8 KILLED IN U.S. SPA SHOOTINGS

Killings follow recent spike in hate crimes against Asian-Americans

EIGHT people, six of whom were Asian women, were killed in shootings at three different spas in Georgia on Tuesday, with a 21-year-old man in custody on suspicion of staging all three attacks, police said.

The shootings came with many Asian-Americans already on edge following a recent spike in hate crimes against the community, and triggered immediate fears that Asian-run businesses may have been deliberately targeted.

Four of the victims were killed at Young’s Asian Massage near Acworth, a suburb of Georgia’s capital city here, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County sheriff’s office said the victims were two Asian women, a white woman, and a white man, while a Hispanic man was wounded.

The city police department separately confirmed that four women were found dead at two business establishments in northeast of the city here, identified as the Gold Massage Spa and Aroma Therapy spa.

Police told the Atlanta JournalConstitution that all four Atlanta victims were Asian women.

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported the country’s Foreign Ministry had confirmed that four of the victims were of Korean descent.

Authorities identified Robert Aaron Long as a suspect in all three shootings.

Based on the pattern of surveillance video from the shooting scenes, Atlanta police spokesman Sergeant John Chafee said: “It is extremely likely our suspect is the same as Cherokee County’s, who is in custody.

“We are working closely with them to confirm with certainty our cases are related.”

Long was taken into custody after a “brief pursuit” about 240km from Atlanta, according to a statement by the Georgia Department of Safety on Facebook.

Describing the scene in northeast Atlanta, the city police department said: “Upon arrival, officers located three dead females inside the location from apparent gunshot wounds.”

While on the scene, officers were advised of shots fired across the street, where they found a fourth female victim.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was assisting in the investigation, a spokesman said.

The shootings come as reports of attacks against Asian-Americans, primarily elders, have spiked in recent months — fuelled during the Covid-19 pandemic, activists believe, by talk of the “Chinese virus” by former president Donald Trump and others.

News of the shootings came just hours after the release of a report by the advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate suggested a marked increase in hate crimes against Asian-Americans — with women disproportionately affected.

In an address to the nation last Thursday, President Joe Biden forcefully condemned what he called “vicious hate crimes against Asian-Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated.”

“It’s wrong. It’s un-American. And it must stop,” he said.