33-year-old Sehee Cho was tortured and killed during the group's "initiation" process."
In Georgia, members of a Korean religious cult were charged in the murder of a 33-year-old woman who was killed during the initiation process into a group that called itself Soldiers of Christ. Police say Sehee Cho was held captive for weeks, tortured and starved her until she died.
Officers discovered Cho's decaying body in the trunk of a car, left in the parking lot in metro Atlanta's busy Korean business district. Video evidence shows the group beating Cho with a belt and putting her in ice baths. Seven individuals, including the group's leader Joonho Lee, face charges of felony murder, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of another.
40-year-old Michelle Go was "suddenly pushed" in front of an oncoming train.
In New York, a woman died after she was pushed onto the subway tracks and struck by an oncoming train. The incident occurred on Saturday morning at the Times Square-42nd Street station while she was standing on the southbound R-Q train platform. According to witnesses, a man "suddenly pushed" the woman in an unprovoked attack shoving her onto the tracks as the train pulled into the station, killing her.
The victim was identified as 40-year-old Michelle Go, who was Asian. The attacker, identified as 61-year-old Simon Martial, fled the scene and rode the subway to Lower Manhattan, where he told officers at the Canal Street station that he had pushed a woman onto the tracks. Martial reportedly has a history encounters with the authorities related to mental health problems. He is expected to be arraigned on murder charges.
Police are calling the attack "random" and said there was no indication that Go had been targeted because of her ethnicity. I have to say that offers very little comfort. These mounting "random" attacks against victims who just happen to be Asian, during a sharp surge of violence against Asians... at some point, "random" really doesn't seem like a sufficient way to categorize a tragedy like this. We do not feel safe.
Authorities offer $10,000 reward for information about Qinxuan Pan's whereabouts.
$10K reward offered in search for person of interest in Yale student's murder
With the person of interest in the shooting death of a Yale graduate student still at large, federal authorities on Tuesday increased the reward for information about the man's whereabouts. Officials with the U.S. Marshals Service said they are now offering $10,000 for information leading to Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student Qinxuan Pan. The previous reward was $5,000. "Pan should be considered armed and dangerous," the agency said in a statement announcing the higher reward. "Individuals should not attempt to apprehend him themselves." Pan, 29, is wanted for questioning in the February 6 death of Kevin Jiang, a second-year graduate student at the Yale School of the Environment who was fatally shot outside his car in New Haven, Connecticut.
And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.
Life as a Sikh in Trump's America
"Many Sikh civil rights groups believe that the Trump presidency is to blame for a 17% spike in anti-Sikh violence since the 2016 election, as well as a deluge of other discriminatory incidents in the workplace, in housing, in schools, at airport security checkpoints. The president’s inflammatory language about immigrants and foreigners, they say, has made official profiling more prevalent and emboldened racists to speak and act more openly."
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New York Politician Apologizes for Calling BLM 'Business Lives Matter'
New York City Council member Peter Koo apologized on Thursday for saying BLM stood for "business lives matter" during a speech. Speaking at a forum with the city's Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Koo was speaking in opposition to a proposal for a bus lane for stretch of street in Flushing, saying that the plan posed a problem for local small-business owners. "BLM, it means what? Business lives matter," Koo said to the crowd. Stop. That is the sound of my eyes rolling. You can make your point without saying shit like this. The councilman has since apologized for his remarks.
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Scientist Killed During Her Regular Morning Run
A 43-year-old scientist and mother of two was found dead near a creek in Plano, Texas, on Saturday morning after going out for her regular morning run. Sarmistha Sen had gotten up early for a run and at some point in time came across her attacker. Less than two hours later, a witness discovered Sen's body near the creek. Her death is being classified as a homicide and a person of interest is currently being held for a burglary that happened nearby, according to police. Local residents paid tribute to Sen by dropping off pairs of running shoes near the site where she was killed.
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Classroom Convos 1: Difficult Conversations About Race
The recent racial uprising has made us all aware of the extent of racism around us. More of us, especially the younger generation, are now willing to talk about race and find collective ways to combat systemic racism. But these conversations are not easy, and we may not even be comfortable talking about race, because we were never taught how to. However, these conversations are crucial to bring about a systemic change. Act to Change invites you to their first Classroom Convos, a youth workshop that will guide you on talking about race, especially with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Participants will be able to reflect on their challenges and discomforts with talking about race and racism, and will leave with concrete strategies to increase their influence and sustainability. It's happening Friday, August 7 at 1pm ET. Speakers will include Maulik Pancholy, actor, author & co-founder of Act To Change; and Richard Leong, leadership development coach & board member of Act To Change. Register for the webinar here.
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Lucky Grandma Lucky Grandma is now available on digital platforms. Written and directed by Sasie Sealy, this darkly hilarious indie feature stars the legendary Tsai Chin at the center of a Chinatown gangster caper. An ornery, chain-smoking, newly widowed 80-year-old Grandma is eager to live life as an independent woman, despite the worry of her family. When a local fortune teller predicts a most auspicious day in her future, Grandma decides to head to the casino and goes all in, only to land herself on the wrong side of luck... suddenly attracting the attention of some local gangsters. Desperate to protect herself, Grandma employs the services of a bodyguard from a rival gang and soon finds herself right in the middle of a Chinatown gang war.
Suspected gang members arrested in the shooting deaths of four men in November.
From The New York Times: Police in California announced Tuesday that they have arrested six suspected gang members in the shooting deaths of four men in November at a backyard gathering of family and friends that they believed was a rival gang's party.
The victims were killed November 17 when gunmen entered the back of a Fresno home through an unlocked gate and used semiautomatic weapons to open fire on people watching a football game in the backyard. Four people were killed, and six people were wounded.
Suspect described as "an Asian man in his mid-twenties with black hair."
From The Orange Country Register: A retired administrator was stabbed to death Monday morning at Cal State Fullerton, with police deploying bloodhounds to try and track down the suspect.
The victim, a man of Asian ethnicity in his late 50s, was found with multiple stab wounds inside a gray car in Parking Lot S at College Place and Langsdorf Drive. He was working as a consultant at the university.
44-year-old Gurpreet Singh was working behind the counter when he was fatally shot.
In Southern California, homicide investigators have released surveillance video footage of the suspect sought in the fatal shooting of a clerk at a convenience store during a possible attempted robbery.
44-year-old Gurpreet Singh was working behind the counter at ASL Liquor and Market in Downey on Tuesday night when a man entered the store and shot him with a silver handgun. Singh died at the scene. It's unclear whether the shooter had gone to the store with the intention of robbing it.
Authorities released ten seconds of the store's surveillance footage. One shot shows the suspect entering the store wearing glasses, jeans, black gloves and a black jacket. Another shot shows the man with a gun raised at Singh. The next shot shows the gunman backing away and running from the shop with the gun still in hand.
Ngoc Q. Nguyen was killed after a dispute over an unpaid $35 manicure bill.
After eluding authorities for nearly two weeks, a woman accused of killing a Las Vegas nail salon manager after a dispute over an unpaid manicure bill has been arrested by an FBI task force in Arizona.
21-year-old Krystal Whipple was taken into custody in connection with the death of 51-year-old Ngoc Q. Nguyen. The fatal confrontation happened on December 29 when Whipple got her nails done at Crystal Nails but her credit card was declined for the $35 bill.
Whipple said she would get another form of payment from her car, but instead drove off. Nguyen tried to pursue her on foot, but was dragged by the vehicle. She was taken to a hospital where she died of her injuries.
61-year-old Ayub Ali was fatally shot at his convenience store on Tuesday.
Damn. In Florida, the father of two students who survived the Parkland school shooting in February was shot and killed Tuesday during an armed robbery at his own convenience store.
61-year-old Ayub Ali was working at Aunt Molly's Food Store in North Lauderdale when a man walked in and pulled a gun on him. Surveillance video released by the Broward County Sheriff's Office shows the suspect following Ali around the counter and forcing him to open the cash register at gunpoint.
According to deputies, after robbing the register and leaving the store, the suspect returned to shoot Ali. He was later transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Adam Purinton pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the shooting of Srinivas Kuchibhotla.
In Kansas, the racist sack of shit who opened fire last year in a suburban Kansas City bar, killing an Indian engineer, was sentenced Friday to life in prison. 52-year-old Adam Purinton pleaded guilty to the charge of premeditated first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Srinivas Kuchibhotla.
Witnesses said Purinton, who is white, yelled racial slurs at Kuchibhotla and his friend, Alok Madasani, who were enjoying an after-work drink at Austin's Bar and Grill in Olathe. He was asked to leave but eventually returned and yelled "Get out of my country!" before firing at the men, killing Kuchibhotla and wounding Madasani. A third man, Ian Grillot, was wounded when he tried to intervene.
Purinton was apprehended several hours later at an Applebee's restaurant in Missouri, where a bartender called 911 after he reportedly admitted that he'd shot and killed "two Iranian people in Olathe."
Former patient Albert Wong took several hostages before killing himself and three employees.
A former soldier and former patient of a veterans home in California took three employees hostage on Friday in a seven-hour standoff before authorities found him and three mental health professionals dead.
Authorities say 36-year-old Albert Wong, armed with a rifle, burst into a morning gathering at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville, a treatment facility for elderly or disabled veterans. He took five hostages after exchanging gunfire with a Napa County sheriff's deputy. He later released two hostages.
When police stormed the facility hours later, they found Wong dead, along with three of home's employees, 42-year-old Clinical Director Jennifer Golick, 48-year-old Executive Director Christine Loeber, and 29-year-old Clinical Psychologist Jennifer Gonzalez -- all fatally shot.
Adam Puninton yelled "get out of my country" before fatally shooting Srinivas Kuchibhotla.
The racist sack of shit defendant in the hate crime killing of an Indian engineer at a suburban Kansas City bar was arraigned Thursday after waiving his right to a preliminary hearing, pleading not guilty.
Adam Purinton is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting that killed 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla in February. He also faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder for wounding two other men.
Wesley Mathews initially claimed his daughter Sherin was missing.
In the Dallas area, the father of a 3-year-old girl, who had initially declared his daughter missing, has admitted to forcing milk down his daughter's throat until she started choking and later died.
Wesley Mathews had previously claimed that his daughter Sherin, who was adopted from India, went missing on October 7 after he sent her alone into an alley as punishment for refusing to drink her milk.
But on Monday, he changed his story. After authorities had found the girl's body in a nearby culvert, Mathews provided investigators in Richardson, Texas with an "alternate statement of events."
Brendt Christensen could face the death penalty for killing Yingying Zhang.
The man charged in the disappearance of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois could be eligible for the death penalty after new charges were filed, accusing him of kidnapping and killing her.
According to an updated indictment released this week, 28-year-old Brendt Christensen has been charged with kidnapping resulting in the death of Yingying Zhang. Christensen was initially charged with kidnapping Zhang, but the new charges claim he kidnapped and "intentionally killed" her.
Min Kim pleaded guilty to fatally shooting Jakeel Mason in the back.
Photo Credit: KOMO
Last week in Washington state, a Korean American convenience store owner was sentenced to serve eight years in prison for shooting and killing a fleeing shoplifting suspect last year.
31-year-old Min Kim pleaded guilty earlier this year to fatally shooting Jakeel Mason after he caught Mason shoplifting at his convenience store, Pacific Quick Shop in Spanaway. Mason was trying to flee from the store when Kim shot him in the back. Kim initially claimed he shot in self-defense.
However, prosecutors say surveillance video showed that Mason, who was unarmed, put his hands up and backed away when Kim pulled a gun on him. When Kim started fighting with him, Mason broke free and ran toward the door. Kim shot him twice in the back, killing him.
Thirty-five years ago today in Detroit, four nights after being severely beaten in the head with a baseball bat, Vincent Chin died. The case would become a seminal rallying point for the Asian American community. And tonight, concerned community members plan to gather for a vigil outside the home of Chin's killer.
For those unfamiliar with the case: Chin was out at a strip club celebrating his bachelor party when he got into a fight with a couple of disgruntled auto industry workers, Ronald Evens and his stepson Michael Nitz. Witnesses say they heard Ebens yell "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work!" -- referring to U.S. auto jobs being lost to Japanese manufacturers. Vincent Chin was Chinese American.
The fight was broken up, but Ebens and Nitz weren't finished. They searched for Chin outside the club, tracked him down to a McDonald's and attacked him. Nitz held Chin in a bear hug while Evens repeatedly bludgeoned him with a baseball bat until his head cracked open. Vincent fell into a coma and died on June 23, 1982.
NPR's Morning Edition aired a Story Corps interview Vincent Chin's best friend, Gary Koivu, who talks about his lifelong friendship with Vincent and hauntingly recounts the night he witnessed his murder.
Darwin Torres is accused of killing 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen with a baseball bat.
In Virginia, a Muslim teenage girl who was reportedly assaulted and disappeared has been found dead, and a 22-year-old man has been charged in her murder in connection with the case.
Police believe a body found Sunday afternoon in a pond in Sterling is 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen, who was reported missing after she and some friends got into an altercation with a motorist near their mosque.
According to police, a group of girls was walking back from breakfast at IHOP early Sunday when they got into a dispute with a motorist -- witnesses say he appeared to be drunk and was brandishing a baseball bat -- who got out of his car and assaulted one of them. The rest of the teens ran back to their mosque, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), where the group reported that Hassanen had been left behind.
"Immediately thereafter, the ADAMS' personnel notified both Loudon County and Fairfax County authorities who immediately began an extensive search to locate the missing girl," the mosque said in a statement.
Police searched the surrounding wooded area for several hours, and found the body in the pond, located about two to three miles away from where the original altercation happened.
21-year-old Maria Hsiao was fatally shot outside Q-Cafe in Palo Alto on June 10, 2001.
Maria Hsiao (far left) was enjoying an evening out with friends when she was fatally gunned down.
In Palo Alto, police are asking for the public's help and turning to social media for assistance solving a 16-year-old homicide case, in which a young woman was gunned down outside a downtown night club.
21-year-old Maria Hsiao was shot once in the head while standing outside the now-defunct Q-Cafe in Palo Alto, located at 529 Alma St., just after midnight on June 10, 2001. Hsiao, a student at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, was enjoying an evening out with her sister and some friends when she was gunned down.
Police never recovered the weapon nor developed a motive for the fatal shooting.
Over the weekend, on the anniversary of the shooting, the Palo Alto Police Department re-circulated a 10-minute video about the case, calling for anyone with information about the killing to come forward. The video, first released in 2015, includes interviews with police and Hsiao's loved ones.
32-year-old Jagjeet Singh was stabbed to death after a confrontation with a customer.
In Modesto, California, police are asking for the public's help identifying the man suspected of fatally stabbing a gas station employee, who was apparently attacked after an altercation with a customer over a fake ID.
32-year-old Jagjeet Singh, a clerk at Hatch Food and Gas, was stabbed to death outside the store late Thursday night. According to a co-worker, Singh had gotten into a confrontation earlier in the evening with a customer who unsuccessfully attempted to buy cigarettes with a fake identification.
Later that same day, just before midnight, the unidentified man returned and stabbed Singh outside the store, leaving him critically wounded. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died on Friday.
"Paramedics responded because an employee had collapsed and they thought this to be a medical issue," Modesto police officer Eric Schuller told FOX40 News. "When they arrived on scene they found that this employee has actually been stabbed."
Witnesses say Adam Purinton yelled "Get out of my country" before shooting two Indian men.
32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla was fatally shot at Austins Bar & Grill.
In case you forgot, this is the America where two guys in a bar can get shot just for being brown.
In Kansas, a man has been charged with murder after he approached two men he believed to be "Middle Eastern" at a bar, shouted racial slurs at them and told them to "get out of my country" before he shot them.
51-year-old Adam W. Purinton is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla at Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe on Wednesday night. Witnesses say they heard Purinton yell "get out of my country" before shooting Kuchibhotla and 32-year-old Alok Madasani -- both originally from India. Another bar patron, 24-year-old Ian Grillot, was shot when he tried to intervene.
