WATCH: A String Of Vicious Attacks On The Elderly Has Community In Fear

Following several recent attacks against elderly Asians, a northern California district attorney has put together a new special response unit as activists claim that these random acts of violence actually show a pattern of abuse targeting the Asian American community for supposedly causing the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s not unique to Chinatown or to the Asian community the increase in crime we’ve seen across the city and across the county, but we have seen in the last several weeks and month a very specific increase in crimes committed against Asians,” O’Malley said. “To still be calling it ‘Chinese virus,’ things like that, that fuels hate and fuels aggression and that hate and aggression results in many times – sometimes it’s words – but a lot of times it’s through committing assault or other types of crimes.”

The Oakland Police Department has reallocated resources and is stepping up patrols ahead of the Lunar New Year this coming Friday.

The skyrocketing number of hate crimes against Asian Americans continues to grow, despite our repeated pleas for help. The crimes ignored and even excused. Remember Vincent Chin. #EnoughisEnough. @danieldaekim & I are offering a $25,000 reward.. https://t.co/psNxAPeRVR

— Daniel Wu (@danielwuyanzu) February 5, 2021

O’Malley’s office charged 28-year-old Yahya Muslim with assault and great bodily injury for shoving a 91-year-old man to the ground at 8th and Harrison streets on Jan. 31. Muslim had two prior assault convictions, prosecutors said.

Video released by police also showed he later approached a 60-year-old man and 55-year-old woman on the same street and pushed them from behind as they were walking. All three victims received medical attention at local hospital for their injuries.

Another surveillance video inside a convenience store showed a suspect identified by police as 22-year-old Deveion Lamont Byrd walking up behind an 80-year-old woman before grabbing two $100 bills from her hands as she went to pay at the register and running off.

“Racist rhetoric from the pandemic has targeted us for being the reason of the coronavirus,” he continued. “Asians across the board have been targeted by racial slurs, by being attacked, by being pushed around, being spat on. Outside of San Francisco, in LA, in New York, these incidents are happening all over the country.”

An elderly man from Thailand was targeted in another startling attack that went viral on social media after happening in broad daylight in San Francisco’s Anza Vista neighborhood on Jan. 28. A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured the moments a man abruptly ran toward 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee standing outside his garage, violently knocking him to the ground before walking off.

LATEST: Horrific video of fatal attack Thursday on 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. Details -> https://t.co/6Z5rqIQpcZ pic.twitter.com/PJnuuWgE3Y

— Evan Sernoffsky (@EvanSernoffsky) February 1, 2021

Ratanapakdee died at the hospital two days later. His family members told KTVU Fox 2 that they believe the attack was racially motivated and is linked to blame placed on Asians for the pandemic.

On Feb. 1, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced that 19-year-old Antoine Watson would be charged with murder and elder abuse causing death in connection to Ratanapakdee’s death.

The murder of Ratanapakdee “has been especially painful to the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, which has been victimized by many incidents of violence, hate and racism since the start of the pandemic,” the district attorney’s office said.

“This was a horrific, senseless attack, and I send my deepest condolences to the Ratanapakdee family for this unthinkable pain,” Boudin added in a statement. “My heart goes out to the entire AAPI community for the harm and fear this tragedy has inflicted.”