Police arrest suspects in Market Street, laundromat attacks against Asian residents

San Francisco police Thursday announced the arrest of a suspect in connection with unprovoked attacks on two elderly Asian victims near Market and Seventh streets Wednesday morning.

Police arrested 39-year-old Steven Jenkins for the assaults of a 75-year-old Asian female and an 83-year-old Asian male.

Widely shared video captured the aftermath, showing one of the victims, Xiao Zhen Xie, in tears and with bruises on her face. KPIX reported that Xie had defended herself from the attacker.

A security guard pursued Jenkins after the attack on the male victim, but Jenkins was able to assault Xie before being detained by the security guard, who then held him until officers arrived at the scene at around 10:10 a.m., police said. Witnesses told police that Jenkins was in another altercation 30 minutes prior to the two known assaults.

Both victims were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Jenkins was also transported to the hospital for an unrelated medical condition and was later booked on two charges of assault likely to produce great bodily injury and two charges of elder abuse.

Jack Chen, the grandson of Xie, has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help pay for medical expenses and therapy treatments.

Police also said Wednesday that an arrest was made in the Feb. 23 attack and robbery of a 67-year-old Asian male inside a laundromat located on the 1200 block of Mason street. 

Authorities identified the suspects as Calvin Berschell, Jason Orozco and Nolowde Beshear. All three suspects are 19 years old and from Antioch.

The suspects were taken into custody after police simultaneously issued search and arrest warrants in two Antioch locations. Police said they found clothing, a window punch and two firearms linking the suspects to the Feb. 23 robbery and auto burglaries that took place earlier in the day.

All three suspects were booked into jail on charges of robbery, elder abuse, fraudulent use of a credit card, false imprisonment, assault likely to produce great bodily harm and conspiracy.

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.