Dozens of people demonstrated in front of the Justice Center in Las Vegas Thursday in support of a Filipino American man allegedly attacked in his own garage by his neighbor.
The victim Amadeo Quindara did not attend the rally, but his son did.
“It’s become very apparent that we have to be able to advocate for ourselves … I’m not sure [my dad] knows how to do that. And I just learned that at 38; I’m 44 now,” said Quindara’s son Henry to the Nevada Independent.
The community spoke out after the district attorney’s office charged the suspect, 44-year-old Christian Lentz, with residential burglary. Two weeks later, the DA added elder abuse and hate crime charges following a public uproar.
Quindara says Lentz directed racially charged and offensive language toward him.
“Their life has been turned upside down, but very thrilled that the charges have been enhanced. So we’re very happy about that,” Minddie Lloyd of Bamboo Bridges told AsAmNews prior to the rally about the Quindara family.
Bamboo Bridges advocates for crime victims in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
When you meet and talk to Mr Quindara, you can sense the fear in his eyes and his wife’s eyes, that they have been violated. You can never take back what has been taken away from you when it happens in yoru own home,” said Lloyd.
The National Federation of Filipino American Associations organized today’s rally, according to the Review Journal. The group’s founding vice chair said members of the Filipino American community feel the same thing could have happened to any member of their own family.
“It was a cry for support and a cry for others to recognize the fact that we shouldn’t have let this happen,” Gloria Caoile said. “Mr. Quindara was in his home, where we all feel the safest, but he was there and was brutally attacked in his own home. It’s just the idea that this may happen again, those emotions are now rippling out in our community.”
Lentz is scheduled to appear in court on July 3.
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