A 71-year-old monolingual Chinese woman attacked by the same African American female suspect who pushed a 63-year-old Chinese woman to death 8 months ago

(SAN FRANCISCO) In wake of two similar anti-Asian violent incidents attacking elderly Chinese immigrant women by a same African American woman occurring in the Bayview neighborhood within eight months, the Asian community demanded the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to reopen an investigation on the death case in 2023 and the court to deny bail for the suspect related to the latest aggravated assault.

In the evening of July 3, 2023, 63-year-old Chinese immigrant woman Yan Fang Wu was pushed to death in the Bayview neighborhood by an African American woman. The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) concluded it was an accident and closed the case.

Eight months later in the morning of March 4, 2024, a 71-year-old elderly Chinese woman was violently assaulted in the same neighborhood by the same African American woman suspect. The victim was attacked unprovoked from behind with multiple blows in her neck, face and head and passed out for some time.

SFPD and San Francisco District Attorney's Office (SFDA) did not announce the connection between the two cases. But different sources confirmed with Wind Newspaper that the two violent attacks on elderly Asian women were related.

The victim in the latest assault was blessed to survive in the attack which occurred on March 4 at the 1000 block of Gilman Avenue in Bayview.

The suspect was identified as 43-year-old Thea Hopkins who was arraigned on March 7 and pleaded not guilty to all charges, one count of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury (PC 245(a)(4)) and one count of elder abuse with force likely to cause great bodily injury (PC 368(b)(1)), according to SFDA.

"Ms. Hopkins allegedly attacked the victim from behind, grabbing her hair, punching her several times and throwing her to the ground on the 1000 block of Gilman Avenue," SFDA said. Bail was set at $15,000 for Hopkins. The next court date on the case is March 20, 2024.

SFDA said they would request the court to detain Hopkins pending trial because of the public safety risk she poses to the community.

According to the California penal code, the bail for Hopkins should be at least set at $50,000 for aggravated assault (PC 245(a)(4)) and $100,000 to $200,000 for elder abuse with pain and injury. Apparently the bail for the March 4 attack in the amount of $15,000 was too low for Hopkins.

The victim, her husband and daughter spoke with Wind Newspaper on March 8, four days after the attack.

"We were so shocked to see the bail was set at $15,000 for the defendant. I believe it was a very low amount of bail for such a violent crime against an elderly victim. It was not fair to us and the community," said the daughter of the 71-year-old victim. “We also learned that it was the same suspect who violently assaulted another elderly Chinese woman in the 2023 incident."

The victim and her family didn't want to release their names publicly because of safety concerns. Mrs. C is used as the victim's last name in this article related to the March 4 attack.

C and her family have lived in Bayview for over 3 decades. “In the morning of March 4 at around 9:15am, I was walking to Gilman Playground as usual for a morning workout,” C recalled what happened to her.

“Someone hit me from behind on my right neck first. The hit was so big that it made me try to turn around to see who was behind. Then I was subsequently slapped and punched multiple times on my left face and head by an African American woman. I was shoved to the ground and fainted," C said in Cantonese accompanied by her family members.

“Before I was hit on the head and passed out, I heard the attacker saying something to me. But I didn't know what she was saying because I don’t understand English,” C said with a swollen face and wearing a cervical collar around her neck.

C said she was not aware of how long she was passing out on the ground. “When I regained my consciousness, I felt lots of pain, hardly stood up and walked over to a nearby elementary school asking for help. The employees of the school called the police for me,” C said it was how the police were notified and responded to the scene.

Information indicated that Hopkins also lives in the Bayview neighborhood very close to the crime scene where C was attacked.

“The defendant should be denied bail for the safety of the community. She is very dangerous to all of us,” C’s family members hoped that the court would order Hopkins in custody waiting for trial. They also demanded SFPD to reopen an investigation on another similar attack by Hopkins eight months ago. "We knew about the connections between these two cases."

The Wu case in July 2023 had caused concerns within the Chinese community. Members of the Chinese community in 2023 believed Wu was another victim of anti-Asian hate and violence against many vulnerable elderly Asian women. They also agreed that the suspect in the Wu case should be held accountable to stand trial.

Rongan Liang, Wu's 71-year-old husband, spoke to Wind Newspaper a couple of days after the death of his wife in 2023. He was devastated for losing his wife. He walked over to pick her up after work at the bus stop every evening. After Wu died, Liang decided to leave the country and move back to China in 2023 to reunite with his children.

Wu and Liang immigrated to the United States for about 10 years in 2023. Wu worked at a restaurant in the Sunset District. Liang was unemployed and retired. They used to rent an apartment in the Richmond District. Due to a fire, they moved to rent an in-law apartment in the Bayview neighborhood.

At the time Wu died in the incident, she and Liang had just moved to Bayview for a month. Liang told Wind Newspaper that he was new to that neighborhood and had concerns about

the safety there. So he would walk nine blocks every evening to the bus stop on 3rd Street to pick up his wife after work.

In the evening around 6:30pm on July 3, 2023, Liang routinely walked to the bus stop on 3rd Street. When he was almost there, just half a block from the crime scene, Liang saw his wife already off the bus and walking on the sidewalk on 3rd Street between Fitzgerald and Egbert Avenues. He witnessed an African American woman pushed his wife down to the ground and fled on foot northbound on 3rd Street.

When Liang ran to save his wife, she was on the sidewalk unresponsive, unconscious and bleeding. Wu died in the hospital two days later on July 5, 2023.

Hopkins was located and detained on July 6, 2023 by police officers. She was interviewed by the Homicide Detail inspectors. Hopkins told them that she was running to catch the T-Line light rail train and tipped on the sidewalk and fell into the victim.

"Through the course of the investigation, SFPD investigators interviewed witnesses, obtained video footage of the incident, and detained and interviewed a person of interest. Based on evidence gathered by investigators, and after exhausting investigative leads, this incident has been deemed an accidental death. Unless new evidence emerges, this case will remain closed," SFPD announced the conclusion of the investigation on Wu case in a press release issued on August 21, 2023.

Marlene Tran, Visitacion Valley community leader, had raised concerns about the incident in the beginning and had doubts on the decision made by SFPD to close the case without filing charges against anyone.

“In a case that may have connections with the 2023 deadly incident, it is imperative that SFPD and SFDA departments should thoroughly investigate, verify the incidents in the surveillance footage and to charge the alleged perpetrator,” said Tran who has been a longtime resident of Visitacion Valley side by side with Bayview in the southeast side of the city.

“She is alleged to have committed both anti-Asian crimes. Many people ask why she isn’t in jail to prevent her from more such unprovoked assaults?” Tran said.

The Asian Justice Movement issued a statement demanding SFPD to release the video showing the fatal attack on Wu in July 2023 and reopen the case as a homicide investigation and potential hate crime that Hopkins has a pattern of other violent incidents against Asians.

SFPD has responded to the news media that the July 2023 case has been reopened for investigation based on new evidence, but the video would not be released for public view in the process of conducting investigation.