San Francisco police, city officials and the district attorney held a news briefing Monday afternoon to address recent high-profile crimes against the Asian community.
The city leaders used the briefing to announce arrests in connection to the beating of an elderly Asian woman and also show support to the AAPI community.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said an 18-year-old man and three other suspects ages 11, 13 and 14, are responsible for the daylight beating and robbery of a 70-year-old woman who goes by "Mrs. Wren."
"Due to a language barrier the victim didn't know what was being said," Scott said. "She turned, they followed and attacked her, stole her property, and fled the scene."
During the briefing, city officials again vowed to end what many said is a cycle of attacks against the Asian community, noting the chief and DA will hold a town hall meeting on Asian American hate crimes on Tuesday.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Mrs. Wren's case is an ongoing investigation of several unrelated attacks, including the beating of former San Francisco commissioner Greg Chew.
The DA at this time has declined to file hate crime charges against either the teens involved in the Mrs. Wren case or the man arrested in Chew's attack.
"With hate crimes we do require proof of motive," Jenkins said. "So often times it's expressed verbally or there's a past history on social media. We will work with SFPD to gather other types of evidence."
Meanwhile, police are searching for a man seen in videos attacking women minutes apart last week in the city's Richmond district. One of the victims is a 65-year-old Asian woman and the other victim is also believed to be Asian.
On Friday, many business owners in San Francisco's Chinatown met to discuss recent crimes in the area. The owners said they are sick and tired of their stores getting broken into.
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Police in response said they have started patrolling the area 24 hours a day and have foot patrols.
