Who Was GuiYing Ma? Asian woman beaten with rock in NYC Nov 26 attack dies

An elderly Asian woman who was attacked with a rock in New York has died after being in a coma for around ten weeks.

On November 26, GuiYing Ma, 62, was sweeping the pavement outside her home in Jackson Heights, Queens, when a guy allegedly struck her in the head with a rock, according to police.

Ma is the fourth Asian American to die in New York in the last two months as a result of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).

Anti-AAPI hate crime increased 339 percent nationally last year, according to data collated by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. Many of these attacks have been motivated by hatred over China’s role in the coronavirus pandemic.

According to her landlady, Ma’s loved ones thought she was making progress before she died.

“We told her to wave her hand, and she waved her hand,” Yihung Hsieh, 46, told The Post.

“We told her to put her hand on her belly and she did. We told her to use her right thumb to say OK, she understands. And she did it. Before Tuesday, everything was good news.”