Family of Woman Fatally Shot in Compton Demands Hate Crime Investigation

The family of a 28-year-old woman killed in a fatal shooting in Compton, California, is asking the police to look at the incident as a potential hate crime.

What happened: Sia Marie Xiong, 28, was shot before 6 a.m. on March 20 on East Kay Street, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said, according to KTLA.

Officers discovered the woman with one gunshot wound to her lower torso.
Authorities rushed Xiong to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Officers are still investigating what happened before the shooting and the events leading up to it.

The aftermath: Xiong’s family held a press conference a day after the fatal shooting to urge the local police department to look at all possible angles of the killing, including anti-Asian hate crimes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“The backdrop is of course the rise in Asian hate crimes,” the family’s lawyer, Toni Jaramilla, said of the victim, who was of Cambodian, Black and Native American descent. “We’re looking to see if the Sheriff’s Department can look at it with that lens.”
Xiong, who had a 3-year-old son, grew up in San Diego and lived in Fontana, Akeisa Lowe, the victim’s aunt, said. It was still unclear what she was doing in Compton on the day of the shooting.
“She was a sweet kid,” Lowe said. “I can’t even imagine who would hate her this much.”
Despite the call for an anti-Asian hate crime investigation, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s department believed the case is not related to that.
“No one can deny the dramatic increase in Asian women being murdered across the country,” Najee Ali, a South L.A. activist, said via KTLA.
Authorities have yet to identify the shooter or the motive behind the killing.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help Xiong’s son and for her “going away service.”

“She had so much life to live and so much love to give,” the campaign reads. “The fact that her life has been cut short, in such a violent manner, pains the family to the core. It’s hard to grasp that we will never see or speak to her again. Hear her voice or laugh, see her grow older or make new memories with her.”

Feature Image via Carla Jay

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