LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — An elderly Asian man is living in fear after he says he was attacked physically and verbally by his neighbor.
According to police records, the incident happened on May 30th.
With tears in his eyes, 75-year-old Amadeo Quindara told Channel 13 about the violent attack. He shared that he was sitting in his garage resting, when his neighbor first approached him, threatened him, and left.
About a half hour later, Quindara says that the same neighbor returned, this time, with the intention to attack.
"If I open [this video] up, when it comes to the part I was shouting, I turn it off right away because I don't want to hear it,” Quindara said.
Home security footage captured the moment 44-year-old Christian Lentz approached Quindara in his garage.
Lentz could be heard telling Quindara he would “be on a ventilator” and saying “die” multiple times before walking away.
"All the punches he was giving me and he slammed me to the ground causing my head injury. The only thing I could do is shout,” Quindara said.
Lentz could also be heard yelling racial slurs at him.
"He walked away and started talking. ‘You should speak English. You should speak English. You Japanese,’” Quindara said.
Those words, he says, hurt more than the physical pain. Quindara is a proud American and the son of a U.S. Army veteran. The American flag can be seen hung up outside of his southwest Las Vegas home. Quindara believes the attack was rooted in racism.
"The physical you could recover from that but if you keep thinking about what happened, that is the thing that hurt me most. I cannot change my face to look like an American. I cannot change it,” Quindara said.
The number of attacks targeting Asians has spiked nationally and locally since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic first started.
When asked if he ever lived in fear because of the way he looked, Quindara said he always knew something could happen, but never thought it actually would.
"This thing that happened totally surprised me because, inside my house, which is where I think is the safest place for me to stay, I didn't think this was going to happen,” Quindara said.
Christian Lentz was arrested for residential burglary, a punishment Quindara believes is too light for the damage that was done.
"Oh, my god. It hurts. It hurts very much,” Quindara said.
Christian Lentz has since been released from jail and is back at home.
