Pregnant Chinatown store owner uses air horn to thwart attempted robbery

May 10, 2022

A pregnant store owner in Oakland’s Chinatown used an air horn to prevent a man from stealing from her business.

Eva Liu, the owner of Yuda International Logistics, was working at her family’s store when a man entered and attempted to steal customer packages at around 1:50 p.m. on April 25.

“This person came in and he was trying to grab those packages,” Liu told ABC 7’s Dion Lim. “I couldn’t afford to be afraid because I wanted to protect those packages for the customers.”

The moment Liu stood up from her desk and walked toward the man with an air horn in hand, he quickly grabbed a hand sanitizer bottle and walked out of the store.

Liu, who is seven months pregnant, followed the man out the door before he threw the hand sanitizer bottle at her belly. She screamed and used the air horn, causing the man to flee.

“I was trying to protect my stomach so I turned, and it hit my ribs,” Liu said. “When it sounded, many neighbors in a few block radius could hear it and knew trouble was happening.”

Liu claims that the suspect called her a “Chinese b*tch” as he left. The sound of the horn alerted a nearby volunteer security team who then called the Oakland Police. The police arrived in less than two minutes. A suspect has not been arrested.

In Oakland’s Chinatown, thousands of air horns were distributed in February 2021 by community members for protection. Liu is grateful for the airhorn that helped save her and her business.

“At the beginning people were questioning, ‘Why should I carry air horns?’” Carl Chan, the president of the Chinatown Chamber, was quoted by Lim as saying. “But, of course, with a few incidents happening, like the one that you are seeing here, it’s actually helping our small businesses.”

“We’re hoping to distribute them to other communities as well,” Chan added.

Feature Image via ABC 7

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