The New York Police Department is now investigating the attack on a 27-year-old 7-Eleven employee over the weekend as a possible hate crime.
On April 3, just before 6 a.m., an unidentified man entered the convenience store’s branch at the corner of 8th Avenue and West 39th Street and punched the victim in the face, according to ABC7 New York.
The suspect allegedly entered the store without wearing a mask. He yelled at the victim, “You Chinese motherf**ker,” the New York Post reported.
Authorities did not classify the assault as racially motivated at first as the attack was over “a previous larceny and dispute.” They retracted their initial findings a day after.
Officers returned to the 7-Eleven Sunday night when other employees claimed that the same suspect came back and “stared them down before eventually leaving,” according to CBS New York.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is now investigating the case. No arrests have been made so far, and the identity of the assailant is still unknown.
Last month, the NYPD installed hundreds of surveillance cameras around the city. The authorities also deployed several undercover Asian agents on the streets to combat the rising cases of anti-Asian hate crimes.
Featured Image via CBS New York
