The FBI has been brought in to determine if the murders of eight people at three different spas in the Atlanta area were hate crimes. This comes as police release new information they obtained during interrogations with the suspect who has allegedly confessed to the killings. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports eight people were murdered within 45 minutes, six of the victims were Asian:
The FBI arrived Wednesday morning in Crisp County, where 21-year-old shooting suspect Robert Aaron Long was captured Tuesday night at the end of a police chase.
JUST IN: Robert Aaron Long, 21 , is booked into jail accused of murdering 8 people in shooting spree targeting Asian massage parlors across metro Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/xrU5JCNCMx
— Michael Seiden (@SeidenWSBTV) March 17, 2021
According to the AJC Investigators believe Long “may have a sexual addiction and frequented the types of businesses he allegedly targeted.”
”During his interview, he gave no indicators that this was racially motivated,” Reynolds said. “We asked him that specifically and the answer was no.”
But Long did take responsibility for the shootings, Capt. Jay Baker with the Cherokee sheriff’s office said Wednesday. Long, according to Baker, said the massage parlors represented a “temptation he wanted to eliminate.”
This won’t put all questions about whether this was a hate crime to rest though. As the AP points out this has “raised fears that the attack was yet another hate crime against people of Asian descent.”
My heart goes out to the families of the victims of another mass shooting. Many of the victims are Asian. These murders occurred at a time when anti-Asian violence has been spiking. All officials should do their part to condemn violence and not inflame further discrimination. https://t.co/GYCsYsl5hB
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 17, 2021
The Washington Post reports: “The killings come as Asian American hate crimes have spiked across the U.S. Since the start of the pandemic, Asian Americans reported nearly 3,800 hate-related incidents in all 50 states, according to a report released Tuesday by Stop AAPI Hate.”
Call a hate crime what it is.
And GOP leaders, stop fanning violence with anti-Asian rhetoric.
You should be ashamed at what you have unleashed.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 17, 2021
My heart breaks for those we lost in these senseless shootings. And this is all the more painful because AAPIs have spent the last year telling you that our communities were in danger. We cannot move forward — we cannot heal — until our country reckons with & stops AAPI hate.
— Grace Meng (@Grace4NY) March 17, 2021
The White House says the president has been brief about “the horrific shootings in Atlanta.”
As CBS This Morning points out crimes against Asians rose by 150% in the past year. Watch their report above.
