Asian woman, 64, is stabbed to death while walking her dogs in California as police say the attack was ‘completely random’ and not racially motivated
- Ke Chieh Meng, 64, was stabbed on Saturday morning in Riverside, California
- Police said she was left bleeding on the sidewalk and died at a hospital
- Darlene Stephanie Montoya, 23, was arrested near the scene and is facing murder charges
- Meng’s death came as the US has been roiled by a string of random attacks against Asian Americans
- However, police said they do not believe the stabbing was racially-motivated
- Hundreds of people in New York City took to the streets on Sunday to protest the alarming rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the city and around the country
An Asian-American woman was stabbed to death while out walking her dogs in Southern California in what police called a ‘completely random’ attack.
The incident unfolded at around 7.30am local time on Saturday in Riverside’s La Sierra neighborhood, KTLA reported.
Ke Chieh Meng, 64, suffered multiple stab wounds to her abdomen and was left bleeding on the ground. She was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead.
The alleged attacker, 23-year-old Darlene Stephanie Montoya, was arrested near the scene and is now facing murder charges.
Ke Chieh Meng, 64, (pictured) was stabbed to death while out walking her dogs in Southern California in what police called a ‘completely random’ attack on Saturday
Meng’s death came as the US has been roiled by a string of random attacks against Asian Americans.
However, police said they do not believe that the stabbing was racially-motivated.
‘There was nothing to suggest that the victim was attacked due to her ethnicity,’ Riverside Police Department spokesman Ryan Railsback told the New York Post.
Montoya was described as a ‘transient’ with a history of drug use and brushes with law enforcement.
‘We’re going to try to research [the suspect’s] drug-abuse history and her mental-health history,’ Railsback said.
He added that investigators are ‘not closing the door on anything’.
Saturday marked Montoya’s second arrest in less than a week, after she was detained on March 30 for allegedly attacking a white woman with a skateboard at a shopping center.
She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon in the earlier incident but was released without bail due to COVID-19 restrictions, according to the Post.
On Saturday Montoya was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of murder, a weapons violation and being under the influence of an illegal substance.
She is being held without bail, according to jail records.
Darlene Stephanie Montoya, 23, (pictured) was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of murder, a weapons violation and being under the influence of an illegal substance
Hundreds of people in New York City took to the streets on Sunday to protest against an alarming rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans in the city and around the country.
The ‘Stop Asian Hate’ began at Foley Square in Manhattan before participants marched through City Hall Park and over the Brooklyn Bridge to Cadman Plaza.
The NYPD says there have been at least 33 hate crimes with an Asian victim so far this year – after 2020 saw a more than 800 percent increase in such crimes from the year before.
Many believe that the hate crimes have been fueled by the fact that the coronavirus originated in China, prompting perpetrators to target random Asian-Americans as scapegoats.
Hundreds of people in New York City took to the streets on Sunday to protest against an alarming rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans in the city and around the country
A woman holds a sign with the words ‘I’m not a virus, hate is’ during the ‘Stop Asian Hate’ rally in New York City on Sunday
The ‘Stop Asian Hate’ began at Foley Square in Manhattan before participants marched through City Hall Park and over the Brooklyn Bridge to Cadman Plaza
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