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Video shows suspect stabbing man in San Francisco Chinatown
A man appears to be waiting to cross a street in San Francisco's Chinatown, when surveillance video shows a man in a black hoodie suddenly lunge and stab the victim in the back.
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco police on Thursday arrested a man who critically injured another man in an unprovoked stabbing in the city’s Chinatown.
Video of the sudden stabbing has shocked people in the Chinatown community.
Surveillance camera footage shows a man in a black hoodie walking down Stockton Street, and then lunging violently towards a man who was waiting at the corner to cross the street.
The attacker stabbed the victim in the back and walks away. The victim is seen falling to the ground.
The attack happened just after 1:00 p.m Thursday at the busy intersection of Stockton and Sacramento streets.
Community shocked by attack
"Lots of people have pictures, lots of people have video. All of Chinatown last night, everybody said why your shop, what happened in front of your shop? I said, I don't know," Rawnie Chan, Manager at Flags International Services said about the attack that happened near her office.
"We bring the ice and the towels, to stop bleeding," Chan said, adding that the victim was speaking in Cantonese and said he was in pain. One business owner said she grabbed frozen dumplings out of their office refrigerator to place on the wound, because there were no restaurants with ice close by.
Chan said within a few minutes, police and paramedics arrived.
"We were here 6 years, and we've never seen anything like that. Anything. This is the first time we see...our colleagues also, so scared to see that," Chan said.
Police said the victim had life-threatening injuries and was rushed to the hospital. Police said the victim was still in the hospital on Friday. Initially, they said he was expected to survive. But in a late Friday update, the Chinatown Merchants United Association said the victim underwent a second surgery on Friday.
Tracking down the suspect
Police said they used surveillance camera networks and worked with San Francisco sheriff's deputies to locate the suspect, who was detained near the 600 block of Powell Street about 10 minutes after the incident.
"Sheriff's deputies were here for extra patrols in Chinatown leading up to Chinese New Year, and they were able to quickly locate the suspect within ten minutes," San Francisco Police Captain Christopher Del Gandio said.
What we know about the suspect and victim
Capt. Del Gandio said police arrested an Asian man in his 30s. The suspect was interviewed with the assistance of a Chinese language interpreter and is being held on charges of attempted murder.
"We're not sure of the motivation," Capt. Del Gandio said. "Both the suspect and the victim appear to be local to the community."
The surveillance video shows what happened.
Police say right now, it's not clear whether the suspect knew the victim, but it appears to be an isolated incident.
Capt. Del Gandio said security will be tight over the weekend for the Chinese New Year celebrations that bring tens of thousands of people to Chinatown.
"Through the weekend through the festival, we'll have increased patrols between ourselves and the Sheriff's office," Del Gandio said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at (415) 575-4444 or test a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.
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