SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Three children ages 11, 13, and 14 and an 18-year-old have been arrested in the beating and robbing of a 70-year-old Asian woman who was attacked last month inside her San Francisco apartment building, police announced Monday.
The woman was outside her Chinatown building when the suspects approached her on July 31 and spoke to her, said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott.
Unable to understand them because of a language barrier, she went into the building's lobby and the suspects followed her, Scott said. Then they beat and robbed her before fleeing, he said. The attack was recorded on surveillance video.
“The victim was transported to a local hospital and thank goodness her injuries were not life-threatening,” said Scott, who did not identify the woman.
The attack came amid a wave of assaults against Asian Americans in San Francisco and across the country that started when the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S.
Scott called the ages of the younger suspects “sad” and “shocking.”
He said detectives identified the suspects as 18-year-old Darryl Moore, of Oakland, and the three juveniles.
The names of the juveniles won't be released and the 11-year-old won't be charged in the case due to his age. The other three face robbery, elder abuse, false imprisonment, and conspiracy charges, Scott said.
Moore, the 11-year-old and 13-year-old suspects were arrested by Santa Clara County authorities on Aug. 10 by officers with the Milpitas Police Department on accusations of an unrelated crime there, he said.
Moore is still detained at the Santa Clara County jail. The 13-year-old suspect was booked at the Santa Clara Juvenile Hall and was being transferred to the custody of Alameda County, where officials booked him on the warrant for his San Francisco arrest, Scott said.
The 11-year-old who won't face charges was transferred from Santa Clara to the custody of the Alameda County Assessment Center. The 14-year-old has not been located but there is a warrant for his arrest, Scott said.
