WASHINGTON — An Asian business owner was punched in the face by a customer inside his own store in NoMa on Tuesday afternoon.
Chong Hu Lu, owner of Max Trading, told investigators the suspect came into the store and asked to “open a package to look at the merchandise.”
When Hu Lu told him he couldn’t do that, the suspect walked over and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.
According to NBC Washington’s Aimee Cho, Hu Lu told her the suspect yelled “F### you Chinese people, I hate you” before attacking him.
Hu Lu was taken to a nearby hospital where he received over a dozen stitches for a cut to the lip.
The suspect fled and has not been arrested.
D.C. police are investigating this as a possible hate crime.
Anti-Asian American attacks have increased since the onset of COVID-19.
A 31-year-old woman was bludgeoned with a hammer in an unprovoked attack while walking with a friend in NYC on Sunday night.