SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- An 89-year-old Chinese American woman has died from injuries one year after she was brutally beaten at a park in southeastern San Francisco, her family members said on a fund-raising website over the weekend.
The Chinese American senior named Yik Oi Huang died at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco on Friday, just a few days before an event planned by her family and friends to mark the one-year anniversary of her attack to raise awareness and solidarity among community members.
The event, titled "Healing Through Compassion & Solidarity Silent Sit-In," will still be held as planned on Jan. 8 to "shine light to the trauma ... and to turn pain into purpose by building solidarity across the communities," according to Huang's family.
Huang's family said she was attacked and brutally beaten on Jan. 8, 2019, when she was out for regular morning exercises at a park in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood. Huang suffered life-threatening injuries including facial and skull fractures as well as a brain wound in the assault.
"The family has gone through a year of unexpected emotional and financial hardship," according to the GoFundMe website page.
San Francisco police have arrested Keonte Gathron, an 18-year-old local resident, as a suspect in connection with Huang's attack and other crimes.
Huang's rare attack has aroused fears and worries among seniors in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood ever since, and city officials have pledged to install surveillance cameras to improve community security.
