Two men were arrested Thursday in connection with the August murder of Lili Xu in Oakland's Little Saigon neighborhood, and one of the suspects is Xu's longtime boyfriend who was with her at the time of the killing.

It appeared to be another random act of violence. 60-year-old Lili Xu, a dentist who practiced in Oakland's Chinatown and in Castro Valley, was fatally shot in an apparent attempted robbery in the Little Saigon neighborhood in the middle of the day on August 21. Xu was with her boyfriend at the time, 73-year-old Nelson Peter Chia, who told authorities that they were on their way to a massage when they were approached by an assailant while sitting in their car.

But as KTVU reports, Chia is now a suspect in Xu's murder, along with another man, presumably the shooter, identified in jail records as 35-year-old Hasheem Bason. Both men have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley is scheduled to give a press conference Friday at 2 p.m. about the arrests, and police have not yet announced the two men's names.

Xu and Chia were parking along the side of a street at the time of the shooting, and a white Lexus pulled up beside them, out of which shots were fired, striking Xu.

It was called an attempted robbery, but it seemed like another senseless act of violence, similar to one that had just happened weeks earlier in the same neighborhood. 52-year-old Oakland Uber driver Kon "Patrick" Fung was approached by two suspects while sitting in his car in the Little Saigon neighborhood, and he ended up being fatally shot.

Now Xu's killing is sounding more like a murder for hire, but we are still awaiting details from investigators about a motive.

Xu's murder drew hundreds to a vigil in late August, and led to a renewed outcry about presumed race-based violence against Asian Americans in the Bay Area.

Previously: Fatal, Broad Daylight Shooting in Oakland‘s Little Saigon Sunday Draws Outrage