A total of 27 separate attacks, mostly against San Francisco-based businesses owned by the Chinese were traced to a single suspect.
Between April and August this year, the city’s District Attorney, Chesa Boudin on Monday announced the charges alleging the man of hate crimes.
Derik Barreto, the suspect identified by the DA, is being accused of using a hammer, pipe, or slingshot to hit the windows of dining establishments along the Ocean Avenue corridor and in the Mission, most of which are owned by Chinese. The DA also accused him to have robbed a number of the businesses he attacked.
The suspect also faces 31 hate crime enhancement charges as he allegedly told police, “suggesting that he intentionally targeted businesses he believed to be Chinese-owned and that he was motivated by the perceived race and nationality of the victims,” according to the DA.
“We absolutely do not tolerate violence or hate in San Francisco. Chinese-owned businesses should be able to operate without fear of being racially targeted by vandalism, burglary, or harassment,” Attorney Boudin said. “We stand with San Francisco’s AAPI community against hate and will do everything in our power to make sure everyone is and feels safe.”
The suspect is now facing 27 felony counts of vandalism; 4 felony counts of second-degree burglary; a misdemeanor count of possession of burglary tools and another count of possession of a concealed weapon and a hate crime enhancement of 31 counts, KRON4 reported.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Hate Crime hotline at (628) 652-4311 is open to anyone who wants to report, witness, or experienced the said crime.
