patrick.net

Gathron allegedly beat 88-year-old Yik Oi Huang on Jan. 8 at a Visitacion Valley playground she regularly visited in the morning to exercise. Police said he went on to burglarize her home across the street until a witness came upon the scene, prompting him to flee.

As of Wednesday, Huang remained in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A GoFundMe page for her medical care has raised more than $14,000.

Eight days after the vicious attack, police received a report of a man robbed of his car at gunpoint on Jan. 16 on the 1600 block of Visitacion Avenue, just six blocks from Huang’s residence. A San Francisco sheriff’s deputy found the abandoned car nine hours later at a gas station on San Bruno Avenue, said Cmdr. Greg McEachern, of the San Francisco Police Department.