Elementary school worker beaten, loses part of his finger in brutal assault at Rosemead bus stop
Matthew Leung, who works at an elementary school, was injured so badly he lost part of a finger.
ROSEMEAD, Calif. (KABC) -- A shocking assault at a Rosemead bus stop is now under investigation.
Detectives are trying to determine if race played a factor - or if it was a random attack.
Matthew Leung says he was standing at a bus stop last week near Rosemead Boulevard and Marshall street and that he had a brief conversation with a man on a bike about the bus number.
About five minutes later, that man returned, grabbed Leung's walking stick and started beating him with it.
Leung was injured so badly he lost part of a finger.
A "Go Fund Me" page has now been set up to help Leung with his medical bills.
According to the fundraising site, Leung, 51, has worked at Gates Street Elementary School for over 20 years as a paraprofessional.
"This violence should never happen. It should never occur. I mean it was unprovoked. He was just sitting on a bus stop," said Diane Yokoyama, a teacher at Gates Street Elementary School. Yokoyama and five others set up the GoFundMe campaign, which has raised more than $14,000 as of Wednesday evening.
Though the motive of the assault remains unclear, this incident comes amid a surge in violent attacks targeting Asian Americans.
The Bay Area has recently seen a series of attacks targeting Asian-Americans, particularly the elderly. In one case, a 70-year-old Bay Area grandmother was slammed to the ground and beaten. There have been similar attacks in other areas of the country.
RELATED| Racism Against Asian-Americans: What Can We Do About It?
