A pair of siblings rushed to their mother’s aid after seeing her struggle with a robber just outside their home in Oakland, California, on Nov. 23.
What happened: The victim, 54, was coming home when the male suspect tried to snatch her purse, according to ABC7 News. He followed her up the front steps of her residence, where a brief tug-of-war took place.
- Surveillance video shows the suspect catching up to the victim just before she could enter her home. Both held onto the purse and landed back on the sidewalk.
- A few seconds later, the victim’s son, 17, darted out from their home and struggled with the suspect. The victim’s daughter, 22, also came running down to help her.
- The suspect, who was wearing dark clothing, reportedly managed to flee in a getaway car. It’s unclear whether someone else was driving the vehicle.
- The victim reportedly sustained some abrasions from the incident. As of Monday, there had been no arrests, according to Fox News.
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The big picture: The victim’s daughter told ABC7 News that her family had been attacked twice before while they were living in other parts of the city. The latest incident also follows an uptick in robberies targeting older Asian Americans in Oakland amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- In July, a pair of violent robberies occurred within two consecutive days on the same street in Chinatown, putting the community on high-alert. The first incident involved a man in his 50s who walked with a cane; the second involved a woman in her 80s as well as her daughter.
- In April, a Vietnamese American family was robbed of their life savings at home in under an hour — an incident that left their 7-year-old daughter unable to sleep at night.
- The surge in anti-Asian attacks in Oakland prompted community leader Carl Chan — who was allegedly a victim of an assault himself — to call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a local state of emergency in August. Newsom responded by deploying California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers to join the city’s police in curbing the attacks.
Featured Image via Dion Lim (@DionLimTV)
