SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – A man was charged in 27 separate attacks against mostly Chinese-owned businesses in San Francisco.
The city’s District Attorney, Chesa Boudin, announced the charges on Monday, accusing the suspect of hate crimes between April and August 2021.
The DA identified the suspect as Derik Barreto, who is accused of using a slingshot, pipe, or hammer to break windows of primarily Chinese-owned businesses along the Ocean Avenue corridor and in the Mission. He also burglarized a few of those businesses, the DA alleges.
Barreto was also charged with 31 hate crime enhancements due to his alleged statements to police, “suggesting that he intentionally targeted businesses he believed to be Chinese-owned and that he was motivated by the perceived race and nationality of the victims,” the DA said.
“We absolutely do not tolerate violence or hate in San Francisco. Chinese-owned businesses should be able to operate without fear of being racially targeted by vandalism, burglary, or harassment,” said San Francisco District Attorney Boudin. “We stand with San Francisco’s AAPI community against hate and will do everything in our power to make sure everyone is and feels safe.”
Specifically, Barreto is charged with the following counts:
- 27 felony counts of Vandalism
- 4 felony counts of Second Degree Burglary
- 1 misdemeanor count of Possession of Burglary Tools
- 1 misdemeanor count of Possession of a Concealed Weapon
- A hate crime enhancement accompanies 31 counts
Those who may have witnessed or experienced a hate crime should call the San Francisco District Attorney’s Hate Crime hotline at (628) 652-4311
