Three of four murder victims identified
Three of the four men beaten to death as they slept on the street in New York’s Chinatown on Oct 5 have been identified by the authorities and residents.
They were an 83-year-old man from Hong Kong, a father who had a home but was described by his daughter as having fallen on hard times, and a self-described writer and minister.
Authorities have still to identify the fourth victim.
The first, Chuen Kwok, referred to by Chinatown residents as “Uncle Kwok”, often accepted help from neighbors and slept in front of the same store every night, according to news reports. Those who knew him said he was quiet and never discussed how he became homeless.
The Ng Fook Funeral Home in Chinatown offered to cover the costs of his funeral.
The second man, Nazario A. Vazquez Villegas, 54, had a home, according to his daughter, but his fortunes had declined. No other information about him was available.
The third man, Anthony Manson, was often seen typing on his laptop in Chinatown.
The New York Times reported that Manson was a preacher who founded two nonprofit organizations in Mississippi to help the homeless.
His family, based in Chicago, told the newspaper they had no idea he was living on the street.
Karlin Chan, a Chinatown resident who often stopped to chat with Manson, told the paper: “I wouldn’t call him a homeless guy. I would call him a wanderer.”
Manson said he often left the city in the winter in search of warmer weather.
The report said he wrote extensively on his blog about homelessness.
On March 23, 2017, he wrote, “This is not some emotional trick to stir up people’s hearts so they give blindly, nor is this a license for those who are homeless to do what they want because they are homeless.
“But rather to talk deeply about homelessness — that it needs order, and those who are homeless do have rights. And to loudly say that this is not a problem, yet it can be if it’s not continually addressed, and, ... everyone’s issues can be dealt with, because homelessness is not going away any time soon. It is a way of life for many.”
This is not some emotional trick to stir up people’s hearts so they give blindly, nor is this a license for those who are homeless to do what they want because they are homeless ... But rather to talk deeply about homelessness — that it needs order, and those who are homeless do have rights.”
Anthony Manson, a preacher who helped the homeless and was beaten to death in Chinatown, Manhattan, on Oct 5