SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Members of San Francisco’s Chinatown community say they are even more frightened after learning new details about a stabbing that prosecutors now describe as completely unprovoked.
The attack happened last Thursday afternoon at Stockton and Sacramento streets, where prosecutors say a man was stabbed in the back for no reason.
Court documents obtained by ABC7 Eyewitness News state there were “no words spoken, no threat posed,” and that the suspect, Jian Feng Huang, 37, “acted without mercy and with the specific intent to kill the victim.”
Rawnie Chan, a store manager whose business sits near the intersection, said many initially believed the suspect and victim must have known each other or had argued. Learning it was random, she said, has left the community even more concerned.
Chan said the store has been open for 20 years and nothing like this has ever happened. The area was crowded at the time, and she said Huang had just been seen eating down the street moments before the stabbing.
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Chan added that the attack unfolded so quickly that many people nearby, including elderly residents who don’t speak English, didn’t immediately understand what was happening. Someone eventually called 911. Chan said a nurse rushed in asking for ice, and workers grabbed towels to help stop the bleeding until police arrived.
Prosecutors said the victim was placed in a medically induced coma and that the knife narrowly missed severing his aorta.
People in the neighborhood told ABC7 Eyewitness News they know of Huang’s father but not the victim. Many expressed fear and urged that Huang remains behind bars.
Huang, who was previously convicted of arson in San Mateo County in 2020, made his first court appearance Tuesday in San Francisco.
He pleaded not guilty to several charges, including attempted murder. No bail was set. He is expected back in court in the coming weeks.
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