San Francisco community members are holding a vigil tonight to honor the life of an 88-year-old man who died after being assaulted in the city’s Bayview District last month.
The vigil, put together by a group collaborating with the organization Chinese for Affirmative Action, aims to raise awareness about violence and racial tension in the area.
The event is a response to the death of Huan Chen, a San Francisco resident who was assaulted by five teenage boys on Jan. 24 after he left a bus stop at Third Street and Oakdale Avenue.
Chen was taken to San Francisco General Hospital with a head injury and died March 19, police said.
No arrests have been made in the case, which police ruled a homicide this week.
There have been two other similar assaults along the Third Street corridor since the attack on Huan. In all three cases, the victims were assaulted in the early evening by groups of boys ages 14 to 16.
All three victims were Asian, but police said there is no evidence that the attacks were racially motivated.
The theme of tonight’s vigil is “Stop the Violence, Start the Healing,” and organizers are inviting members of all communities to participate.
Edward Hom, one of the organizers, said in a statement that “the point of the vigil is to show that we are united against violence.”
The vigil is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Third Street and Palou Avenue.
