A man has been charged with the murder of Pak Ho, an elderly Asian man who died Thursday from injuries sustained in an Oakland attack earlier this week.
Teaunte Bailey was charged on multiple felony counts, including murder, in connection to incidents on two different days by Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley on Friday.
The DA alleges that Bailey, 26, "assaulted and robbed" Ho, 75, on Tuesday. Ho had been on his daily morning walk in his neighborhood, Adams Point, when Bailey allegedly approached and robbed him.
"In the course of the robbery, the defendant shoved Mr. Ho to the ground. His head hit the pavement and he suffered a traumatic head injury and brain damage," the DA's office said. Ho died of his injuries two days later.
Bailey has also been implicated in a similar incident that took place last month.
He was also charged on Friday with robbery and assault for allegedly breaking into a senior living apartment and "violently" shoving its 72-year-old resident before stealing their phone and other items.
The DA's office said that Bailey had been released to home supervision earlier in February after a preliminary hearing for robbery and has multiple prior felony convictions.
Bailey was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday. It was not immediately clear if he has obtained legal representation or has entered a plea at this time.
RELATED: Volunteers Offer to Escort Elderly Asian Americans Around California Community amid Racist Attacks
Ho's assault is the latest in a string of devastating attacks against members of the Asian community in the Oakland area and also comes as hate crimes against Asian Americans are on the rise.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden called for an end to the hate crimes against Asian Americans in his primetime address marking the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden called the behavior "un-American" and "wrong."
"Too often, we've turned against one another," he said. "A mask — the easiest thing to do to save lives — sometimes it divides us. States pitted against one another instead of working with each other. Vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated."
"At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans, they're on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives," continued Biden. "And still — still — they are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America. It's wrong, it's un-American and it must stop."
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Citing data from the New York Police Department last month, New York magazine reported that there had been a 1,900 percent increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in the city in the past year. An August UN report showed that during an eight-week period from March to May 2020, there were more than 1,800 racist incidents against Asian Americans in the United States, the magazine reported.
Additionally, a report released last September by the Stop AAPI Hate Youth Campaign, which surveyed nearly 1,000 Asian American young adults, found that eight out of 10 respondents expressed anger over the current anti-Asian hate in the United States.
An analysis by Stop AAPI Hate, the youth campaign's parent organization, found that one in 10 tweets concerning Asian Americans in the months before the 2020 presidential election contained racist or disparaging language.
RELATED: Asian Americans Fear for Their Safety Amid Increasing Racism, Hate Crimes Since Start of Pandemic
Many have pointed to former President Donald Trump as fueling the racism against Asian Americans by repeatedly referring to COVID-19 as the "China virus" on the campaign trail and while still in office.
Biden signed an executive order condemning the increasing racism toward the Asian/Pacific Islander community after he was inaugurated in January.
As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from the CDC, WHO and local public health departments. PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMe to raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, click here.
Source: Read Full Article
