A 35-year-old girl was adopted into her residence constructing in New York Metropolis's Chinatown neighborhood and stabbed to demise on Sunday. A 25-year-old suspect, Assamad Nash, is charged with homicide and housebreaking, following the demise of Christina Yuna Lee, the New York Police Division informed CBS Information.
Lee entered her constructing on Chrystie Avenue on Sunday morning and Nash allegedly adopted behind her up six flights of stairs. She apparently did not know he was there, constructing proprietor Brian Chin informed CBS New York.
Nash allegedly pushed his approach into her residence, and neighbors heard screaming and referred to as 911, in response to CBS New York.
When police arrived, they discovered a barricaded particular person and have been unable to realize fast entry within the residence, the NYPD informed CBS Information. Emergency Service Unit personnel responded and have been capable of get inside, the place officers discovered Lee within the lavatory with trauma concerning the physique.
Emergency medical personnel pronounced Lee useless on the scene. The investigation is ongoing, NYPD stated. Nash was arrested on Monday — his eighth arrest since Could 2021.
There doesn't look like any connection between Nash and Lee, and the assault could have been random, CBS New York studies. She had a number of stab wounds and it seems a knife from her kitchen was used.
Lee moved to New York Metropolis from New Jersey final 12 months. She is a graduate of Rutgers College in New Jersey, and labored as artistic producer, in response to CBS New York.
"She has achieved nothing flawed. Solely mistake she made, was to maneuver to New York Metropolis … however our metropolis allowed her life to be taken away by violence," stated Justin Yu, president of the Chinese language Consolidated Benevolent Affiliation. "Crime has no consequence on this metropolis."
Coworkers stated Lee was a champion of AAPI illustration, CBS New York studies. "She was a pacesetter in her firm, main range causes, inclusion causes," neighborhood activist Ben Wei stated.
Through the pandemic, assaults on Asian Individuals skyrocketed.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, girls reported almost 65% of anti-Asian hate incidents nationally, in response to knowledge from Cease AAPI Hate. The advocacy group reported reported a complete of 6, 603 hate incidents, a broad time period that may embrace hate crimes comparable to bodily assaults but additionally incorporates verbal and on-line harassment, shunning, and civil rights violations.
Final 12 months, New York Metropolis recorded 131 hate crimes towards Asian Individuals, in response to NYPD date.
Whereas Nash has but to be charged with a hate crime, some Chinatown residents are nervous about turning into a sufferer themselves. "I am scared to stroll out on the road. I am scared to stroll round with my daughters," Grace Lee informed CBS New York.
Jacky Wong, a member of Involved Residents of East Broadway, stated the checklist of assaults towards Asian Individuals is getting "longer and longer."
"We all know the Lee household misplaced a beloved one, and we share their ache," he informed CBS New York.
"I do not wish to leap to the conclusion that Christina can also be a sufferer of hate crime as a result of it is nonetheless pending, the investigation," Wong stated. "However that is one other Asian American who was brutally attacked and what's worse is that she was killed in her personal residence. It simply shatters our neighborhood."
Final month, 40-year-old Michelle Go, a resident of the town's Higher West Facet, was fatally pushed onto subway tracks. Go was a businesswoman who spent her final 10 years with the New York Junior League serving to in danger people get again on their ft, CBS New York studies.
Martial Simon, 61, is dealing with homicide costs for allegedly pushing Go, after first making an attempt to shove one other girl.
In June of final 12 months, one other violent assault on an Asian American girl was caught on digicam within the metropolis's Chinatown neighborhood. Video exhibits a person stroll as much as the girl and sucker-punch her in broad daylight.
The suspect was arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime and different counts, CBS New York studies.
And in Could, two Asian-American girls strolling close to Instances Sq. have been approached by a suspect who struck one of many girls with a hammer, CBS Information studies. That incident was investigated as a hate crime and the suspect, Ebony Jackson, was charged with assault, felony possession of a weapon and menacing.