San Francisco man who allegedly threatened to ‘shoot Chinese language individuals’ arrested | San Francisco
Police said Wednesday that they had arrested a man who repeatedly threatened an Asian American woman in a San Francisco bakery, in one case hand copying a gun and simulating people being shot in it.
Darrell Hunter, 45, was arrested Tuesday near the store in the Tenderloin neighborhood after the woman called police, officer Adam Lobsinger said in a statement.
The woman first called officers on Sunday when she accused Hunter of entering the bakery and threatening to “shoot Chinese people”. The woman told officers it was the third day in a row that Hunter entered the store and caused a disturbance. She said it was the first time she had called the police about the threat of violence, Lobsinger said.
She called the police again Tuesday after saying Hunter returned and used his hand to mimick a gun. Hunter had left the store when the officers arrived, but the police found him a few blocks away and arrested him.
The arrest comes amid an increase in violence against the Asian-American and Pacific islander communities, including several attacks in California. In an attack in San Francisco earlier that month that drew national attention, a man slapped 75-year-old Xiao Zhen Xie in the face, leaving her with two black eyes.
And in New York City, a suspect was arrested Wednesday after an Asian American woman was kicked and trampled in an attack on a surveillance video this week. Activists say Asian American parents and business owners fear their children or workplaces will be targeted, and many community members are afraid to go public.
In San Francisco, Hunter was jailed on suspicion of three criminal threats, two burglary, stalking, parole violation and hate crime enhancement. The police didn’t know if he had hired a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
Hunter has been suspended for vandalism after joining a company four times in two weeks in 2018, shouting racist nicknames and, in one case, damaging restaurant furniture.