NYC: Attacker In Anti-Asian Assault Was On Parole For Killing His Mother

Police have arrested the man seen in a viral video viciously attacking a 65-year-old Asian woman in Manhattan. It turns out he’s on parole after serving 16 years in prison for killing his own mother. From the New York Times:

The man, Brandon Elliot, 38, was living at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan that has been serving as a homeless shelter, the police said. He was charged with felony assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime and separate assault and attempted assault charges.

The police said that Mr. Elliot was the man seen on security footage brutally assaulting Vilma Kari, 65, who was walking down a city street on Monday morning.

The video shows the man kicking Ms. Kari in the chest outside a luxury apartment building. After she staggers back and collapses onto the sidewalk, he then kicks her repeatedly in the head. A police official said that he then shouted an obscenity at her and said “You don’t belong here.”

The brutal attack left the woman with a fractured pelvis and several head injuries. According to the Times, Elliott pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2002 for stabbing his mother to death in front of his 5-year-old sister. He was 19-years-old at the time. Anti-Asian violence has risen sharply during the pandemic as some people falsely blame Asian-Americans for spreading the coronavirus.

Warning, graphic video: another angle of a 65-year-old Asian woman being brutally attacked on W 43rd st yesterday… police still looking for the attacker. The people who work in the building and did nothing to help her have been suspended. @NY1 pic.twitter.com/zrT4FICM7I

— Lindsay Tuchman (@LindsayTuchman) March 30, 2021