SF Chinatown Community Rallies Together After 8th Violent Attack in Broad Daylight This Year

More than 200 community leaders, San Francisco Police Department Captain Robert Yick, San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, and others joined together at the Benevolent Association’s headquarters Monday morning to host a meeting after the vicious attack on Hongchang Huang.

“The purpose of this meeting was for community leaders to get together and to work together on solutions. I think it’s really about showing patrons that are coming here to Chinatown if they see something, let us know,” Captain Yick said during the meeting, according to ABC7News.

Huang, who was in attendance at the meeting with his face bruised, was attacked at the corner of Stockton and Pacific last week along with his friend. “While Supervisor Peskin said the response time of 30 minutes to the incident was unacceptable, SFPD responded within minutes,” the ABC7News report noted.

The SFPD has expressed its plans to increase patrols and extend the hours of officers to be on foot patrol in order to increase visibility. In addition, Captain Yick said that security cameras are set to be installed within the next six weeks. This has reportedly been in the works for two years.

A $20,000 reward has also been set up to those who can provide information or help to find the four men responsible for the attack.

Huang, who was apprehensive to speak up on camera and even come out in Chinatown, said he was optimistic when he heard the response on Monday’s meeting.

Huang’s incident is now the eighth attack in the community in the past year where the most recent – and most violent one – took place in January where 89-year-old great grandmother Yik Oi Huang was viciously attacked at a park in Visitacion Valley, San Francisco, California.

Her condition has reportedly been in decline ever since the attack where she sustained injuries such as a broken spine, hand, ribs, and a shattered face. The grandmother is now residing at an assisted care facility.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons / Noahnmf (CC BY-SA 4.0)