Irvine Man, 24, Held For Alleged Hate Crime, Unprovoked Attack With Pipe On 2 Black Brothers
IRVINE (CBSLA.com) — The Irvine Police Department has arrested an Asian man on suspicion of committing a hate crime against a black high school student and his brother.
Christopher Qu, 24, of Irvine was arrested on charges of committing a hate crime, felony assault and assault with a deadly weapon.
Authorities said Wednesday, just before 1 p.m., a 16-year-old black male was waiting in front of Irvine High School for his brother to pick him up. Officials said school is on spring break, but the victim was on campus for sports practice.
As the victim's 24-year-old brother drove up, the student was allegedly approached by Qu who was carrying a metal pipe.
Neither of the victims knows Qu, police said.
Unprovoked, they say he began using racial slurs and aggressively walking toward the student. The student's older brother got out of the car in time to intervene but was head-butted by the suspect and struck several times in the arm with the pipe.
The brothers were able to get to their vehicle and call 911. The 24-year-old victim sustained a laceration to his face and cuts and bruising to his arms. The 16-year-old victim was uninjured.
Qu allegedly fled on foot but was located nearby and arrested by Irvine police.
A bloody pipe was recovered in the parking lot at the school.
KCAL9's Stacey Butler said a man by the name of Christopher Qu was released from the Orange County Jail a few days ago. Court records show several crimes associated with that same name including assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats. He was arrested on a probation violation.
Qu is being held on a $25,000 bail.
Irvine police say they "vigorously investigate" all forms of hate crimes including violent acts, vandalism, graffiti, intimidation, criminal threats and other crimes motivated by a person's gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or physical disability.
