Related: Police investigating murder of 24-year-old trans woman as a hate crimeThough investigators have not formally charged Patrick Trebat with a hate crime at the time of this writing, they emphasize that they have not ruled out possible hate crime charges in the future.
Court documents also show that Trebat targeted the Lai family based on their race; it remains unclear if the attacker knew Lai was actually gay.“The U.S.
Attorney’s Office is continuing to investigate the facts and circumstances of the case and has no further comment at this time,” U.S.
Attorney’s Office spokesperson William Miller told the Washington Blade.The attack on the Lai family comes amid a spike in attacks on Asian Americans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,.