FEAR FACTOR
Sex-addicted Atlanta mass killing suspect sparks terror in N.Y. Asian communities
The 21-year-old man accused of shooting and killing eight people at three different Atlanta-area massage parlors told police he had an “addiction to sex” that fueled his rampage, but denied any racial motivation.
Robert Long told officers the parlors were a “temptation he wanted to eliminate.”
“It may be the targets of opportunity,” Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said during a press conference Wednesday. “We believe he frequented these places in the past and may have been lashing out.”
Long, the son of a youth pastor, was captured around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday about 150 miles south of Atlanta after leading police on a high-speed chase.
Officials said that Long’s family recognized him from surveillance footage and helped identify him. Police were then able to trace Long’s phone and track his location.
Long has been charged with four counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault so far.
Authorities have not labeled the shooting spree a hate crime even amid national concern about attacks on Asian-Americans.
A 9-mm. handgun was found in Long’s car during his arrest, police said, which he bought from a local shop just hours before the first shooting, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said investigators believe that Long was headed to Florida to carry out more shootings before he was captured.
Two Asian women, a white woman and a white man were fatally shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlor about 30 miles north of Atlanta around 5 p.m. Tuesday, then four more Asian women were killed at two more spas in northeast Atlanta.
Four of the victims were identified by police as Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Yan, 49, and Daoyou Feng, 44. Another, 30-year-old Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, was wounded.
“During his interview, he gave no indicators that this was racially motivated,” Reynolds said during the press conference. “We asked him that specifically and the answer was no.”
Officials said Long appeared to be working alone and there was no active threat to the community.
While police have played down the racial bias, Asian groups have
called attention to growing attacks against their communities.
“The reported shootings of multiple Asian-American women today in Atlanta is an unspeakable tragedy — for the families of the victims first and foremost, but also for the Asian-American community, which has been reeling from high levels of racist attacks over the course of the past year,” Stop AAPI Hate, an organization that aims to raise awareness of anti-Asian discrimination, said in a statement Tuesday.
“There is a great deal of fear and pain in the Asian-American community that must be addressed.”
President Biden, like law enforcement authorities, stopped short of labeling the mass shooting a hate crime. But he acknowledged concern among Asian-Americans about increased attacks that have targeted people from those communities.
“Whatever the motivation here, I know Asian-Americans, they are very concerned, because as you know I have been speaking about the brutality against Asian-Americans, and it’s troubling,” Biden said.
His press secretary, Jen Psaki, later blamed former President Donald Trump for some of the climate under which many of the attacks against Asian-Americans have occurred.
“I think there’s no question that some of the damaging rhetoric that we saw during the prior administration calling COVID the ‘Wuhan virus’ or other things led to perceptions of the Asian-American community that are inaccurate and unfair, and has elevated threats,” Psaki said.
Vice President Kamala Harris stressed that the investigation was still ongoing.
“We don’t yet know — we’re not yet clear — about the motive,” she said. “But I do want to say to our Asian-American community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged.”
Former President Barack Obama called for an end to the violence, tying it back to gun safety. “Yesterday’s shootings are another tragic reminder that we have far more work to do to put in place commonsense gun safety laws and root out the pervasive patterns of hatred and violence in our society,” he said in a statement. “Michelle and I pray for the victims, their families, everyone grieving these needless and devastating killings and we urge meaningful action that will save lives.”
Mayoral contender Andrew Yang, the only major Asian-American contender in the race, called for the NYPD’s Asian Hate Crime Task Force to be fully funded.
“This is a devastating and heartbreaking day around the country, particularly for Asian-Americans,” Yang said. “To see these six women’s lives snuffed out like this in such a brutal and senseless fashion — it’s heartbreaking.”
Former Knicks star Jeremy Lin, who has been outspoken about the rise in anti-Asian aggression, called the news “heartbreaking.”
“To my Asian-American family, please take time to grieve but know you’re loved, seen and IMPORTANT,” he tweeted. “We have to keep standing up, speaking out, rallying together and fighting for change. We cannot lose hope!!”