"These Asian hate crimes need to stop. Our hearts go out to all those who have been injured, killed, or affected by this wave of racist crimes toward the Asian community," the family of one of the women attacked said on GoFundMe.
The footage of the horrific moment when a man stabbed two elderly Asian American women on the streets of San Francisco, California as they waited at a bus stop earlier this week has been released.
The attacks on the women, ages 65 and 85, came out of nowhere, and is the latest in a series of brazen attacks on Asian Americans, which continue to rise across the country.
The footage was obtained exclusively by Dion Lim at ABC 7 San Francisco. She wrote on the news organization’s website, “I obtained this video through sources and spent a great deal of time debating whether or not to release it to the public.”
“In journalism, there should be a purpose to what is shown. It is not to provide shock value, clicks or 'likes' on social media. One needs to ask ;what is the context behind this video?' Without context, it has no purpose,” she added. “In this case, my team and I felt like it was important to visualize what happened so the audience understands the severity of the crime.”
In the attack, which occurred May 4, cops say a man with a history of mental illness stabbed a 65-year-old woman, and then fled. The suspect also stabbed a 85-year-old, puncturing her lung. Good Samaritans rushed to her side to help her.
X-Rays of the woman’s chest have also been released, and showed the large hunting knife still lodged where it penetrated.
Her family is calling her “the ultimate fighter” as they share photos of her on the mend in the hospital and have set up a GoFundMe page for her to help pay for medical expenses.
Anti-Asian hate crimes are up 164% in 2021, according to Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
