Story at a glance
- Hundreds attended a vigil in Times Square Tuesday night to remember the woman who recently died after being pushed in front a subway train.
- Michelle Go, 40, died on Saturday after a homeless man suddenly shoved her onto subway tracks as she waited for an R train at the Times Square station.
- Some worried that Go was targeted because of her ethnicity, but the NYPD does not believe the attack was racially motivated.
Hundreds of people attended a candlelit vigil at Times Square Tuesday night held in honor of Michelle Go who was pushed to her death at the nearby subway station in what the mayor called a “senseless act of violence.”
Go, 40, was a Bay Area native who lived in the city’s Upper West Side and worked in the financial district at Deloitte Consulting.
“She loved New York. We talked about it during the pandemic that we would rather be nowhere else,” said Kim Garnett, one of the handful of Go’s friends and co-workers that spoke at the vigil. “She loved Central Park, she loved living in the Upper West Side.”
“She was an inclusive leader who treated everyone with respect and dignity,” said fellow Deloitte co-worker Louise Chang. “Michelle is also one of the most genuine and authentic people that I know.”
“She was the same during a women in m&a design session or wine tasting with her friends in Napa…I know that we are all heartbroken that Michelle’s life was cut so short but what does make me happy is that I know Michelle lived her life to the fullest,” Chang added choking back tears.
Go died Saturday morning after a homeless man, later identified as 61-year-old Simon Martial, shoved her in front of an oncoming R train at the Times Square subway station.
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Go was of Asian descent, and some feared her death was the result of a hate crime given her ethnicity. But the New York Police Department has said there is no indication that she was targeted because of her race, according to The New York Times.
Although Go’s murder has not been deemed a hate crime, her death has disturbed the Asian American community, which has seen a dramatic spike in hate crimes since the pandemic began two years ago.
Between March 2020 and September of last year, there were more than 10,300 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, according to Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition gathering data on hate incidents during the pandemic.
A handful of lawmakers including Congressmember Grace Meng, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Mayor Eric Adams attended the vigil to honor Go and condemn anti-Asian hate.
“The death of Michelle ripped at my heart, to see what happened to her and to see what is happening to our city month after month, or the AAPI community,” said Adams. “This is New York City, the most diverse place on the globe. It’s time for us to come together to come together as a city and not allow these issues to take place.”
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