Vandal tries to start fire at Oakland Asian bakery, possible hate crime

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    OAKLAND, California (KPIX) — Owners of an Asian bakery in Oakland say a vandal tried to burn down their shop early Thursday morning.

Around 1:30 a.m., an unidentified man set the contents of a recycling bin on fire near Buiphong Bakery on the 2800 block of International Blvd. One of the owners was inside the establishment at the time and he extinguished the fire it could catch.

Surveillance cameras caught the suspect arriving and leaving the scene in a bicycle.

The owners said they suspect it was a hate crime, but they don’t understand the motivations.

“We are Chinese AMERICANS, and in 1983 started a small family business and have been a proud part of the Oakland community for nearly 40 years,” the bakery’s owners wrote on Instagram. “We are genuinely saddened by everything happening to the AAPI community and never thought it would happen to us.“

The owners did not say if police were investigating the incident.

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