SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco police arrested a man hours after he allegedly stabbed a 94-year-old Asian woman Wednesday in an unprovoked attack, officials said.
Officers responded to a report about a stabbing and found the woman with several stab wounds and rendered medical aid while medics arrived at the scene. The victim was taken to a local hospital, where she is expected to survive, the San Francisco Police Department said in a statement.
Detectives found a knife near the crime scene and obtained a photo of the man and circulated it to all police officers. Two hours later, officers arrested Daniel Cauich, 35.
Cauich, who has a long criminal history, was awaiting trial on burglary charges when a judge released him from jail last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing court records.
He now faces charges including attempted homicide, elder abuse, and committing a felony while on bail.
Investigators are working to determine if race was a motivating factor in the attack, police said.
The attack comes amid a wave of assaults against Asian Americans in San Francisco and across the country since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the United States.
In Southern California, authorities said Wednesday they are investigating another attack on an Asian American woman as a possible hate crime. A man assaulted the victim around 1 a.m. Monday as she walked to work in Culver City, a Los Angeles suburb.
The attack was recorded by security cameras, and the video was released by police in an effort to identify the assailant, who fled the scene.
The Culver City Police Department said the man asked the woman for a cigarette and she said she did not have one.
“As the victim attempted to walk away, the suspect approached her from behind, yelled a racial slur, and hit her on the right side of her head causing her to fall to the ground,” a police statement said.
Firefighters treated the woman for a severe laceration of her right ear and took her to a hospital for treatment. Police said she is expected to make a full recovery.
