Robert Aaron Long, 21, was arrested after a brief manhunt Tuesday. Authorities said Long admitted he was responsible for the slayings, and they believe he acted alone.
Atlanta rampage fits patterns seen in prior mass killings
Some details offered by authorities about the shooting rampage in the Atlanta area fit patterns seen in other mass killings.
Researchers have found that mass killers and active shooters are usually male, typically target places known to them and are often fueled by grievances. These grievances can involve attackers blaming others for their issues or otherwise perceiving some wrong, researchers have found.
Law enforcement officials said Wednesday that the suspect in the shootings at the three Atlanta-area spas “may have frequented some of these places in the past.” They also suggested during a news briefing that he described the spas as “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” one official said.
An FBI study in 2018 looking at active shooters found that most of those examined had a grievance that “may not have been reasonable or even grounded in reality, but it appeared to serve as the rationale for the eventual attack, giving a sense of purpose to the shooter.” Mass attackers also typically unnerve people around them beforehand, alarming at least someone in their lives before the outburst of violence, researchers have found.
Authorities also said that the shooting suspect told investigators that the killings were not racially motivated. In some recent high-profile cases, attackers or people charged in mass killings have explicitly bigoted about their intentions and sentiments, including during and after mass killings in Pittsburgh, El Paso and Charleston, S.C.
All of those massacres led to hate-crime charges.
House Democrats suggest Trump’s rhetoric about ‘China virus’ to blame for rising violence against Asian Americans
Two House Democrats called out former president Donald Trump for his repeated use of terms such as “China virus” and “Wuhan virus” for the rising violence against Asian Americans the day after shootings at three Atlanta-area spas left eight people dead, including six Asian women.
Law enforcement officials said Wednesday that the shooting suspect claimed that the acts of violence Tuesday were not racially motivated. Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said that it remains unclear whether the shootings could be classified as a hate crime.
“President Trump clearly stoked the flames of xenophobia against AAPIs with his rhetoric,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) at a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday. “The CDC and the World Health Organization said we should all use the official term covid-19 in order to make sure this disease is not associated with a particular geographical location or ethnicity due to the stigma it causes. And President Trump refused to acknowledge that and instead used the terms ‘China virus,’ ‘Wuhan Virus’ and ‘Kung flu.’”
In a telephone interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo Tuesday night, the former president again used the term “China virus” to describe the coronavirus.
Chu said Trump and his followers doubled down on the rhetoric and “what we saw yesterday is the result of that.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) went further, saying, “We encourage members of Congress who used that kind of hateful rhetoric — cut it out because you also have blood on your hands.”
Hate crimes against Asian Americans have spiked across the United States. 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.
Obama: ‘We urge meaningful action that will save lives’
Asian American leader says community feels ‘hurt’ over attack: ‘I’m trying to keep it together’
Sookyung Oh, the Washington-area director of the advocacy group National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, said local Asian Americans have been nervously monitoring news coverage of Tuesday’s shooting.
“I’m trying to keep it together,” said Oh, a second-generation Korean American. “I feel hurt. Asian American people feel hurt.”
Oh said the recent attacks follow a long history of violence against Asian Americans, largely fueled by negative stereotypes and xenophobia. President Donald Trump exacerbated those problems by labeling the coronavirus the “China virus,” she said.
“I don’t know how many times somebody has asked if I’m from here,” Oh said. “The ongoing story is that we don’t actually get to belong in the U.S.”
She called on Asian Americans to be more vocal about attacks against other ethnic groups.
“We have to join with Jewish Americans, the Black community, Middle Eastern and Arab Americans,” she said. “And really be clear that we want a country where we’re not going to stand for hateful behavior.”
Harris: ‘We grieve for the loss’
Vice President Harris called the shootings “tragic” and expressed condolences to the families of the eight people killed, including six Asian women.
“We grieve for the loss,” she said. “It speaks to a larger issue, which is violence in our country and to never tolerate it.”
While saying the motive of the shooter is not clear, Harris, a former prosecutor, noted that most of the victims were Asian and said no “form of hate” should be tolerated.
Four Cherokee County victims identified by police
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office identified four of the people killed in Tuesday’s shootings in the Atlanta area:
-Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, of Acworth, Ga.
-Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta
-Xiaojie Yan, 49, of Kennesaw, Ga.
-Daoyou Feng, 44
A fifth victim, Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, suffered wounds that are not life-threatening, police said.
After Long, the suspect, was taken into custody, police said they recovered a 9mm firearm. They say he confessed to the shootings during his interview with authorities.
‘People in the Asian-American community are scared,' says Georgia state senator who warned about hate crimes this week
Georgia state Sen. Michelle Au, a Democrat who represents a swath of North Fulton and Gwinnett counties, said that she was “shocked and saddened” when she first saw news of Tuesday night’s shootings, but also that she was “not surprised.”
“Obviously the events are still unfolding, and we’re still getting more information. So I don’t want to jump to any conclusions as to the motivations behind this particular crime,” she said. “But just stepping back for a bit, I think that there is a picture in this country, especially over the past year, of increasing discrimination and violence against our Asian American communities.”
She said that regardless of what authorities determine to be the motive for Tuesday’s shootings, “it is taking place in a landscape where Asian Americans are increasingly terrified and fearful for their lives and their safety because of these escalating threats against our people.”
The day before the shooting, Au had warned her fellow state senators about the surge in crimes against Asian Americans. She said media coverage of crimes against Asian Americans have largely focused on incidents in California and New York.
“I did not want this to be a story that people in Georgia ignored because they felt they were immune to it, because, first of all, there is a fairly significant and growing Asian population in the state of Georgia, particularly in my Senate district,” she said, noting that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up more than 24 percent of her district.
“The point of speaking about it in the [Senate] well is saying that there’s a brewing problem, and we need to be aware of it before it manifests,” she said.
During a news conference Wednesday, authorities said the suspect claimed the acts were not racially motivated. Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said it is not yet clear whether the shootings that killed eight people, including six Asian women, could be classified as a hate crime.
In a separate statement released by Au’s office, she added: “Our AAPI community has been living in fear this past year in the shadow of escalating racial discrimination and attacks. This latest series of murders only heightens that terror.”
Suspect was possibly on his way to Florida, Atlanta mayor says
Robert Aaron Long was reportedly on his way to Florida after the shootings in the Atlanta area, the city’s mayor said.
At a news conference Wednesday, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) indicated that Long, who admitted he was responsible for the shootings, had plans to head to Florida for a potential similar string of violence.
“The suspect was on his way to Florida, perhaps to carry out additional shootings,” Bottoms said.
Police say that while the suspect claimed the attacks were not racially motivated, Long showed indicators in his interview with authorities of having a possible “sexual addiction.”
Shooting suspect shows indicators of ‘potential sexual addiction,’ police say
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that the suspect in the Atlanta-area shootings showed indicators of having a possible “sexual addiction” in his interview with authorities.
“He made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction, and may have frequented some of these places in the past,” Sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said at a news conference. “We still have a lot of things to process.”
Baker later added that in the interview, Long indicated that the spas were “a temptation” for him.
“It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” Baker told reporters. “It’s still early on, but those were comments that he made.”
Church leaders wrestle with shooting suspect’s Southern Baptist ties
Russell Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Church’s public policy arm, said in a statement that the “shocking” shootings on Tuesday night come at a time when he has heard increasingly from Asian Americans who face escalating “immoral and unjust” bigotry.
“Christians must also lead the way in refusing to listen to and refusing to amplify the voices of those who would incite hatred against minority populations,” Moore said.
The denomination has been engulfed in an explosive debate over race in recent months, especially since Southern Baptist leaders condemned something called Critical Race Theory, an academic movement that views racism as central to society’s problems. Several Black pastors have left the denomination, and prominent Bible teacher Beth Moore revealed last week that she has also parted ways.
Long’s Atlanta church is part of a group in the SBC called Founders Ministry, which has pushed the convention in a more conservative direction in recent years.
Raymond Chang, a Korean American who is head of the Asian American Christian Collaborative, said he was disappointed but not surprised to learn Long was a member of a Southern Baptist Church.
“One of the things that is difficult about White evangelical Christian churches and spaces is that they struggle to talk about race and racism in any meaningful way and create conditions in which racism and white supremacy can sadly flourish,” said Chang, who is campus minister at the evangelical Wheaton College outside of Chicago.
He said people of color within White evangelical spaces who try to help on issues of race are often silenced, pushed out, or they burn out. The SBC, Chang said, seems to consistently spend more energy on resisting efforts to dismantle racism than address racism within its church.
Police: Suspect claims shooting was not racially motivated
Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said Tuesday that the killing of eight people in three separate shootings at Atlanta-area massage parlors may not be a hate crime targeting Asians, but more investigation will be done to reach a final conclusion.
Police arrested Robert Aaron Long, 21, after a brief manhunt and said he is the suspect in all three shootings. Police said they interviewed the suspect Tuesday night, with the assistance of the FBI.
Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said that it remains unclear whether the shootings could be classified as a hate crime.
“I think it’s important we acknowledge the fact if this is hate crime,” Bryant said at a news conference. “We are still early in this investigation, so we can’t make a determination. We are very early.”
The killings come as Asian American hate crimes have spiked across the United States. 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.
Bryant emphasized that officials are still early in the investigation.
“Even though we have made an arrest, there’s still a lot more work to be done,” he said.
Investigators will not simply take the suspect’s word for his motives, and have already spoken to his parents. They will also comb through any online postings, writings or witness accounts that may offer clues to what he did, officials said. Denying hate as a motive is unlikely to spare him any punishment, since he already faces eight counts of murder, and the possibility in Georgia of the death penalty.
Atlanta mayor: ‘A crime against any community is a crime against us all’
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) on Wednesday condemned the area shootings that killed eight people, including six Asian women.
“A motive is still not clear, but a crime against any community is a crime against us all,” Bottoms said in a statement.
Police arrested Robert Aaron Long, 21, after a brief manhunt and said he is the suspect in the shootings.
Bottoms praised law enforcement for apprehending Long. She said she is working with the White House and the Atlanta Police Department as law enforcement “investigate the suspect who is responsible for this senseless violence in our city.”
“My prayers are with the families and friends of the victims whose lives were cut short by these shootings,” Bottoms said.
Mayorkas says he has been briefed on Atlanta shootings, FBI is on the case
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday that he has been briefed on the Atlanta-area spa shootings that left eight people dead and that the FBI is on the case.
Mayorkas made his comments during his opening remarks at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee where much of the focus is on the migrant surge at the southwestern border.
“At the very outset, I should recognize the tragic event that took place in the surrounding areas of Atlanta yesterday,” Mayorkas said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of that tragic event, those who lost their lives, as well as those who were injured.”
“We are tracking that event very carefully,” he said. “I have already been briefed on it. And I know that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is working underway to understand all of the facts and that the individual who is a suspect of that event is in custody.”
Biden briefed on shooting
President Biden was briefed overnight about “the horrific shootings” in Atlanta, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Wednesday.
“White House officials have been in touch with the Mayor’s office and will remain in touch with the FBI," Psaki said.
According to a pool report, Biden will be speak by phone Wednesday morning with Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiVGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9uYXRpb24vMjAyMS8wMy8xNy9hdGxhbnRhLXNwYS1zaG9vdGluZ3MtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzL9IBY2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9uYXRpb24vMjAyMS8wMy8xNy9hdGxhbnRhLXNwYS1zaG9vdGluZ3MtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzLz9vdXRwdXRUeXBlPWFtcA?oc=5
2021-03-17 17:13:00Z
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