Atlanta police on shooting probe: ‘Nothing is off the table’
ATLANTA — Police said Thursday that “nothing is off the table” in the investigation of the deadly shootings at two Atlanta massage parlors, including whether the slayings were a hate crime.
Those attacks and a third one near the suburban town of Woodstock killed eight people and prompted President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to change their plans for a previously scheduled trip to Atlanta. The pair postponed a political event in favor of meeting Friday with Asian American community leaders.
A 21-year-old white man, Robert Aaron Long, is charged with murder in the killings, which took place Tuesday. Six of those killed were women of Asian descent.
“Our investigation is looking at everything, so nothing is off the table,” Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said at a news conference.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said it was also investigating whether the killings were hate crimes.
Georgia lawmakers last year passed a hate crimes law that allows additional penalties to be imposed for
certain offenses when motivated by a victim’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender or disability. A hate crime is not a stand-alone crime under the law, but it can be used to add time to a sentence once someone is convicted of another crime.
Investigators believe Mr.
Long had previously visited two of the Atlanta massage parlors where four of the women were killed, Deputy Chief Hampton said.
Mr. Long told police that the attacks were not racially motivated. He claimed to have a sex addiction, and authorities said he apparently lashed out at what he saw as
sources of temptation.
Mr. Long’s statements spurred outrage and widespread skepticism in the Asian American community, which has increasingly been targeted for violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Jay Baker also drew criticism for saying Mr. Long had “a really bad day” and “this is what he did.”
Sheriff Frank Reynolds released a statement Thursday acknowledging that some of Capt. Baker’s comments stirred “much debate and anger” and said the agency regrets any “heartache” caused by his words.
“In as much as his words were taken or construed as insensitive or inappropriate, they were not intended to disrespect any of the victims, the gravity of this tragedy or express empathy or sympathy for the suspect,” Sheriff Reynolds said, adding that Capt. Baker “had a difficult task before him, and this was one of the hardest in his 28 years in law enforcement.”
Capt. Baker was replaced Thursday as spokesman for the investigation, according to a statement from a county spokeswoman who said she would be handling future media inquiries about the slayings.
The sheriff’s statement did not address a 2020 Facebook post that appeared to have been written by Capt. Baker promoting a T-shirt with racist language about China and the coronavirus. Capt. Baker has not commented on the post, which was taken down Wednesday.
Lawyer J. Daran Burns issued a statement saying he had been appointed to represent Mr. Long. He offered condolences to victims’ families and said he was working on Mr. Long’s behalf “to investigate the facts and circumstances” surrounding the slayings.
Mr. Long waived his right to an initial hearing in Cherokee County Magistrate Court on his lawyer’s advice, the statement said.
The president and vice president were already scheduled to travel to Atlanta to tout the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, but the trip took on new meaning after the shootings. The visit also comes amid an intense debate over voter rights in Georgia. Ms. Harris is the first vice president of Asian descent.
During the trip, Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris will instead meet with Asian American leaders to discuss the ongoing threats against the community, meet with other local leaders and visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an update on the pandemic.
Also Thursday, Mr. Biden directed that flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Monday in honor of the dead.