Elderly Asian Woman Brutally Beaten in SF in 2019 Dies 1 Year Later

Yik Oi Huang, 89, was out exercising at Visitacion Valley Playground when an unidentified male burglar reportedly broke into her home on the morning of Jan. 8, 2019.

 

When the suspect found nothing valuable inside the property, he dragged Huang and “be‌a‌t her up to a blo‌o‌dy p‌ul‌p,” according to her granddaughter Sasanna Yee.

Huang, who sustained multiple injuries — including fractures in the head, spine and ribs — ended up in critical condition and had since fought for her life.

“She suffered through the massive pain and had been clinging for her life courageously,” a GoFundMe page dedicated to her funeral says.

The suspect in the attack, 19-year-old Keonte Gathron, was arrested in the same month and later pleaded not guilty, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

Huang’s beating appears to be the first of a series of attacks targeting elderly people in San Francisco’s Chinese community last year.

In July, two leaders of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association were attacked in Stockton and Pacific Streets, while three men were attacked in Portsmouth Square in November.

 

Between those incidents, an attack involving a parking lot business owner occurred in Stockton.

“Seeing it happened to someone else in Chinatown really made me realize how much we need to shed light on this and speak up,” the parking lot owner’s daughter told ABC 7.

Huang’s family will hold an event called the “Healing through Compassion and Solidarity Silent Sit-In” on Wednesday, Jan. 8, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. at the Visitacion Valley Playground “to remember the time of the incident, to shine light to the trauma, to heal our hearts and to turn pain into purpose by building solidarity across the communities.”

Gathron is scheduled to appear on court today.

Feature Images via Sasanna Yee (Left) and @DanThorn_ (Right)