LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Filipino American leaders will be holding a ‘Rally Against Asian Hate’ in front of the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas on June 29th at 10 am. Community leaders will be calling for justice for an elderly Filipino man who was attacked in his southwest Las Vegas home.
Channel 13 first reported on the brutal beatingof 75-year-old Amadeo Quindara. On the afternoon of May 30th, Quindara was resting in his garage when his neighbor, 44-year-old Christian Lentz approached Quindara and verbally threatened him. Surveillance video shows Lentz entering the garage before allegedly picking Quindara up, slamming him into the ground, and punching him repeatedly.
Lentz was initially charged with one count of residential burglary. He was arrested and released from jail shortly after the attack. On June 16th, Clark County district attorney Steve Wolfson announced an additional charge of elder abuse perpetrated as a hate crime.
“I was pleasantly surprised and all it needed was for us to speak up,” said Jacque de Joya, president of the National Federation of Filipino American Association of Nevada.
The attack comes at a time when there is an alarming surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans nationally, and as Nevada’s Filipino American population is growing rapidly.
Community leaders are urging elected officials and law enforcement to take the overall rise in attacks much more seriously and create proactive measures to prevent future acts of violence.
“When Filipino Americans heard about this brutal attack, we took it very personally, because the first thought we had was ‘That could have been my dad’,” said de Joya. “In the Filipino American community, we’re very family-oriented, and we revere our elders. So we felt like our own father had been attacked – it hit us right in our hearts. These kinds of hate crimes, which have been skyrocketing against Asian Americans, are absolutely unacceptable, especially here in our Las Vegas community.”
“We stand with the victims of hate crimes and their families,” said Minddie Lloyd, Chair of the nonprofit advocacy organization Bamboo Bridges. “This senseless violence fueled by hate has to stop now.”
Christian Lentz is due back in court on July 3rd.
