TACOMA, Wash. — A video on social media appears to show an attack on an Asian couple in Tacoma and police are calling it a hate crime.

The video shows an older couple walking through a neighborhood when two teenage boys or young adults rushed up to them. A third teenager recorded the attack, in which an older man is repeatedly punched while the woman cries out for help in Korean.

Police say they have identified the couple after their daughter saw the video on social media and told police the couple are her parents. The Tacoma Police Department says the attack occurred on Nov. 19, 2020 but the original report taken by police did not indicate that the attack was a hate crime or racially motivated.

“That's just unacceptable,” said Lee Foldesi, who lives in Tacoma and was shown the footage. “People shouldn't be doing this to one another, especially with the situations that are going on in society right now."

Anti-Asian bias has been mounting across the country. Recent cases include a 65-year-old woman in New York City who was violently kicked to the ground.

Now it is happening in Tacoma too.

“We are investigating this as a hate crime," said Tacoma Police Officer Wendy Haddow. "We do not have a lot of detail regarding the incident other than the videos. If you are a victim of this type of crime, please call the Tacoma Police Department so we can investigate it."

Michael Itti, wo does outreach in the Asian-American community through CISC, said there are many reasons why hate crimes go unreported.

“I think that language barriers create a problem for a lot of the elderly,” Itti said. “We hope to expand and provide language assistance for multiple communities that experience hate and bias."

Tacoma police are looking for help from the public. People with information about the case can call 1-800-222-TIPS.

Investigators said they have not seen a rise in hate crimes in Tacoma, although they can't account for crimes that go unreported.

There was just a single incident reported in all of January and February. Last year, the department investigated 24 hate crime incidents. In 2019, there were 25 reports made.

Police said none of these prior incidents specifically targeted Asian-Americans.