Who is Patrick Thompson? San Francisco man who stabbed 2 elderly Asian women, 84 and 63, at bus stop arrested
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Amid a spate of violence against the Asian community in the US, two elderly Asian women were stabbed on Tuesday, May 4, while waiting for a bus in downtown San Francisco. Aged 84 and 63, both the women remain in the hospital and are being treated for multiple stab wounds, said the San Francisco Police Department through a press release.
While neither of the women are in critical conditions, their suspected attacker, identified as Patrick Thompson, has since been arrested, although investigators are yet to rule the attack as a hate crime. Authorities are currently looking into the case to check whether the suspect was motivated by racial bias in stabbing the two elderly women.
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Who is Patrick Thompson?
The alleged attacker of the two elderly Asian women who were stabbed at the bus stop has been identified as Patrick Thompson, a 54-year-old man. Officers from the Tenderloin Station had obtained an image of the suspect during their course of the investigation and recognized the suspect from prior contact. The San Francisco resident was arrested at around 7 pm, two hours after he had allegedly stabbed the two women. Local outlet KPIX5 reported that Thompson was located on the 600 block of Eddy Street, and taken into custody without incident.
According to police, Thompson, who has been booked into the San Francisco County Jail, faces two counts of attempted murder and two counts of elder abuse for the attack. A witness who identified herself as Patricia Lee told ABC TV about the weapon used by Thompson as he attacked the two women. Lee was working at a flower stall near the bus station where the attack happened, and she told the outlet, "It was a pretty big knife, it had knuckles on the handle and the blade had holes in there like a military knife."
How was Patrick Thompson identified?
Thompson was identified through a photo taken by Lee's nephew Eric Yung, who was helping her at her flower shop. Yung had noticed Thompson approaching the elderly women wielding a giant knife, just feet behind them. Multiple witnesses identified Thompson as the suspect from Yung's photo that was taken seconds after the attack and showed Thomspon walking away with a distinct black and yellow bag he was carrying.
“All you see is just a big silver thing in hand, brass-knuckle style; slowly puts it in and walks off,” said Yung. “Military-style knife,” agreed a second witness, who disclosed their name as just Devin. “I saw brass knuckles at the end of it. Couldn’t tell you how long, because part of it was still in her.” Speaking about how Thompson should face additional charges for an alleged hate crime, the individual called Devin also told the outlet, “That was a hate crime. He didn’t rob them. He just hurt them, so what else could it be?” They added: “Regardless of nationality or ethnicity, they didn’t deserve that. That’s someone’s grandmother or mother.”