A New York City grandmother whose skull was bashed in during a vicious attack with a rock in November has died of her injuries, her family said.
GuiYing Ma, 62, of Queens, was sweeping a sidewalk on Nov. 26 when a man hit her in the head with a large rock, police said.
She suffered serious brain damage that left her in a coma, according to a news release announcing her death.
She awoke from the coma in early February, but died on Feb. 22 as a result of “complications of blunt impact injury of head," the release said.
Suspect Elisaul Perez, 33, was arrested and charged with assault and harassment after the attack, the New York Police Department said.
Her death has been deemed a homicide, police said. Perez has not been hit with any additional charges yet, police added.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office said in a statement it is reviewing "the latest development in this tragedy and will add or upgrade any appropriate charges supported by evidence."
New York Mayor Eric Adams called her death a “tragedy.”
“GuiYing Ma was a New Yorker and she deserved better than this,” he tweeted Monday. “Our city mourns her today. And we recommit to protecting our Asian communities and every community from hatred and violence.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James also tweeted Monday, “My heart is heavy to learn that we’ve lost GuiYing Ma, and I’m sending my deepest condolences to her husband and entire family,” calling for the end of violence against the Asian community.
The attack against Ma came amid a spike in attacks on Asian Americans amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
In December, the NYPD reported that incidents targeting Asians rose by 361 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year.