Patrick Thompson charged with attempted murder after knife attack on two elderly Asian women at San Francisco bus stop
- Man with history of mental illness attacked the two women as they waited for a bus in San Francisco
- Family of eldest victim sets up GoFundMe page to help pay for medical expenses
A man who allegedly stabbed two elderly women without warning at a San Francisco bus stop was charged with attempted murder in an attack that follows a number of others against Asian-Americans nationwide.
Thompson, who has a history of mental illness, could face a potential life sentence if convicted. He was scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Friday.
A witness told KGO-TV that the man was carrying a large knife with knuckles on the handle and without warning attacked the women as they waited for a bus on Market Street.
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“The knife punctured one victim’s lungs, requiring extensive surgery,” the district attorney’s office said. “A knife had to be removed from another victim at the hospital.”
Authorities initially said the women were 65 and 84 years old and didn’t immediately identify them. But a family member said the elder victim was 85-year-old Chui Fong Eng.
Victoria Eng said her grandmother was stabbed in the right arm and the blade entered her chest. She underwent successful surgery.
“We were able to visit grandma today! It was so emotional walking in and seeing her,” Eng posted Thursday on a GoFundMe page that had raised more than US$98,000 to cover medical expenses. “The staff have been providing exceptional care to her and extremely supportive to our family. She wants to thank everyone for their generosity and well wishes!”
Some of the fundraiser money raised was offered to the family of the other victim, “but they politely declined,” the post said.
Both women were expected to survive, authorities said.
Authorities haven’t said whether the women were targeted because of their ethnicity. But the District Attorney’s office said prosecutors were working with police to determine whether there was evidence to support hate crime allegations.
Police Chief William Scott initially said the attack appeared to be “totally random”.
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On Thursday, the FBI’s San Francisco office launched a publicity campaign to encourage the victims of hate crimes to come forward. The effort comes amid a wave of attacks against Asian-Americans – many of them elderly – in San Francisco and across the country.
Thompson has a criminal background that includes assault with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily injury, according to KGO-TV.
He was arrested in 2017 and sent to a state mental hospital after being found incompetent to stand trial, the district attorney’s office said.
In 2018, Thompson was sent into a state Mental Health Diversion programme that provides “intensive, court-monitored treatment and services,” the District Attorney’s office said.
A judge allowed him to be released from the programme after nearly two years. He wasn’t charged with any new offences. But he was arrested on warrants for missing court dates, including in April 2020, when he also was found to be in possession of a drug pipe, prosecutors said.
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Elsewhere, a police hate crime task force in New York City was investigating a recent incident in which a 31-year-old Asian woman and her companion walking in midtown Manhattan were accosted by a woman with a hammer.
Surveillance video released by police shows the attacker saying something to the women, hitting one with the hammer and swiping at the other before leaving. Police said the woman who was struck suffered a head laceration and later told police the attacker told her to take off her mask before she was hit. No arrests have been made.
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Two Asian women attacked with hammer in New York after being told ‘take off your mask’
In an incident near Times Square in March, a man was seen kicking and stomping a 65-year-old Filipino woman in front of an apartment building. A parolee who had been convicted of killing his mother two decades ago was arrested.
Another man was arrested last month on hate crimes charges in an attack on a Chinese immigrant in East Harlem. The 61-year-old victim was collecting cans when he was attacked from behind, knocked to the ground and kicked in the head.
New York is among several cities where police are beefing up patrols in Chinatown. The San Francisco Bay Area has also seen an increasing number of attacks against Asian Americans.
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California prosecutors have filed assault and hate crime charges against a man accused last week of yelling racial slurs before knocking down Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.
In separate attacks in San Francisco in March, an 83-year-old Vietnamese man was knocked down and broke his neck, and a 77-year-old woman was attacked. Police arrested a man on suspicion of assault and elder abuse in both cases. Another 83-year-old man was pushed down in February, broke a hip and spent weeks in a hospital and rehabilitation.
