Two Asian women stabbed, one more hit with hammer in US

Asian Americans have been once again targeted amid a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes across the United States.

Two elderly Asian women were stabbed in San Francisco, California Tuesday evening, according to authorities who said the suspect was arrested.

The incident happened on a busy street near the city’s landmark Union Square shopping district just before 5 p.m., authorities said.

Both victims were transported to a local hospital for their injuries, but their condition remains unknown.

The suspect, whose identification has not been disclosed yet, is a San Francisco resident. The suspect fled before police arrived, but was arrested around 7 p.m. local time, according to police.

Meanwhile, another Asian woman was attacked by a female stranger in New York City over the weekend, police have said.

Police released surveillance video that showed the moment the suspect appeared to accost two Asian women walking on the sidewalk from behind.

The woman then asked them to remove their masks before striking one of them in the head with a hammer in Times Square on Sunday.

The attacker swung a hammer at the victim, striking her on the left side of the face, according to authorities, who said the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

The injured woman was treated at a hospital, police said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday condemned the attack.

"I am disgusted by this violent attack in Midtown Manhattan, the latest seemingly senseless and despicable hate crime against Asian Americans in this state," Cuomo said in a statement.

"We will do everything in our power to protect those who are vulnerable to these attacks and to hold cowardly perpetrators accountable to the full extent of the law."

A little more than a day earlier, an Asian couple was also attacked just outside Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan.

The 20-year-old male suspect, who was arrested, had called the pair "dangerous" and said, "You don’t belong here" before hitting the woman, 50, in the head with a bag of chips, police said.

The assaults are the latest amid a spike in anti-Asian attacks that have become frequent in the United States.

Incidents of hate crime, targeting Asian Americans business owners and elderly Asians, began after former president Donald Trump referred to the coronavirus pandemic as the "Chinese virus.”

In March, a gunman went on a shooting rampage in the Atlanta area, Georgia, killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent.

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