Man arrested in alleged racially motivated attack on Irvine High School student and older brother

A man carrying a metal pipe was arrested Wednesday in connection with an alleged racially motivated attack on a 16-year-old student and his older sibling outside of Irvine High School, police said.

Christopher Qu, 24, did not know the African American teen, who was on campus for sports practice during spring break, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman of the Irvine Police Department.

Qu of Irvine was taken into custody on suspicion of committing a hate crime, felony assault and assault with a deadly weapon.

The student was waiting in front of the school for his older brother to pick him up at about 12:50 p.m. when Qu aggressively walked up to him and began using racial slurs, police said. Qu was also carrying a metal pipe.

The victim’s 24-year-old brother drove up to the school, got out of his car and tried to intervene, police said. But Qu head-butted the teen’s brother and struck him with the pipe, Emami said.

The siblings managed to escape the attack and got into their vehicle to call police.
The teen was not injured, but his older brother suffered cuts and bruises to his face and arms, police said.

Qu fled before police arrived, but they later found him in the area and arrested him.

The bloodied pipe was found in the school’s parking lot.

Irvine police were still investigating the attack Wednesday afternoon, Emami said.

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