TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police are searching for a male suspect after they say he and a 53-year-old woman attacked a Buddhist nun.
Police say the assault took place on September 21 just before midnight.
Ngunuon Huon says the attackers were “kicking on me, chocking me, twisting my leg, just all over.”
The 67-year-old, speaking through a translator, says the suspects were cutting through a chain link fence. She says when she approached them, they attacked.
“I still was yelling for help help, they’re killing me,” says Huon.
Her cries for help attracted the attention of others, including Victor Tang, who is an 80-year-old monk at the temple.
When he tried to intervene, he too was assaulted, “They put my head to the ground now I still hurt on this side,” says Tang.
Police arrested the 53-year-old woman on the night of the attack, but the man hasn’t been seen since.
The two live in rooms underneath the temple. Police say they made living arrangements with a former member of the temple who is no longer associated with the Khmer Theravadin Buddhist Temple.
The victims say they were yelling derogatory remarks about their religion.
Wendy Haddow is with the Tacoma police department. Public Information Officer Wendy Haddow says, “If during the investigation it meets the requirements of hate crime, than they will forward that to the prosecutor’s office.”