Atlanta, United States:
Homicide detectives on Thursday weighed the probable motives of a gunman accused of fatally shooting various Asian females in Atlanta-location spas, as a U.S. lawmaker mentioned the Asian-American neighborhood was “bleeding” from a current surge in violence and discrimination.
Robert Aaron Long has been jailed on charges of murdering 4 people today at two day spas in Atlanta and 4 other victims at a massage parlor in Cherokee County, about 40 miles (64 km) north of the state capital, on Tuesday. The 4 victims in Atlanta and two of the dead in Cherokee County have been females of Asian descent.
“Nothing is off the table for our investigation,” Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Charles Hampton mentioned at a news conference in response to a query about no matter if police have been searching at the killings as probable hate crimes.
“We had four Asian females that were killed, and so we are looking at everything to make sure that we discover and determine what the motive of our homicides was,” he mentioned.
Investigators have determined that Long had previously frequented each spas in Atlanta exactly where he is accused of opening fire with a 9mm gun he bought earlier in the day.
Investigators mentioned Long, a 21-year-old Atlanta-location resident who is white, recommended to them that sexual aggravation led him to commit violence. Numerous political leaders and civil rights advocates have speculated the killings have been motivated at least in portion by increasing anti-Asian sentiment because the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. flag be flown at half-employees at the White House to honor the victims of Tuesday’s rampage. He and Vice President Kamala Harris will check out Atlanta on Friday to offer you assistance to the Asian-American neighborhood.
In Washington, U.S. lawmakers, professors and actor Daniel Dae Kim mentioned the Asian-American neighborhood was reeling from a year of heightened anti-Asian attacks and discrimination.
“Our community is bleeding, we are in pain and for the last year we’ve been screaming out for help,” Democratic Representative Grace Meng, who is of Taiwanese descent, told a House of Representatives subcommittee on Thursday.
The Georgia killings have prompted police departments to step up patrols and visibility in Asian-American communities about the nation, such as New York City, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco.
The incidence of hate crimes against Asian Americans rose by 149% in 2020 in 16 important cities compared with 2019, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
Civil rights advocates have connected the rise in incidents to the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China. Some Americans, such as Republican former President Donald Trump, began calling the coronavirus the “China virus,” “the China plague” and even the “kung flu.”
Hampton mentioned Long patronized each establishments attacked in Atlanta, the Gold Spa beauty salon and an aromatherapy spa across the street, but it was not clear no matter if he “specifically targeted” any of the victims at these two corporations.
Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department mentioned on Wednesday that Long had confessed to the shootings and indicated he had a sex addiction and “wanted to eliminate” the temptation the establishments represented to him.
A former roommate who spent various months living with Long in a halfway property for recovering addicts told Reuters Long had been treated for sex addiction, was “deeply religious” and would turn out to be “very emotionally distraught that he frequented” spas for “explicitly sexual activity.”
Long was headed for Florida when he was apprehended, maybe to carry out additional shootings, authorities mentioned.
Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace issued a statement on Thursday saying “much work on the investigation and prosecution remains ahead” and vowing to “prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.”
Long had been scheduled to make his initial court look in Cherokee County on Thursday, but the hearing was canceled soon after he waived his correct to the proceeding, according to a statement from his lawyer.
The lawyer, Daran Burns, mentioned his firm had been appointed to represent Long by the county’s Office of Indigent Defense, and that Burns met with his client at the county jail on Wednesday.
Burns produced no mention of Long’s guilt or innocence, but mentioned his firm “will conduct a thorough investigation on our client’s behalf.”
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