US lawmakers decry violence against Asians in Georgia visit

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA — Members of Congress laid flowers Sunday at the three massage businesses in Georgia where a gunman killed eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, and demanded that prosecutors charge the suspect with a hate crime and the U.S. Department of Justice take a leading role in the probe.

The congressional delegation was led by members of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, which said Asian Americans have faced increased hostility since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawmakers said they wanted to experience the shooter's roughly 30-mile (48-kilometer) trip from Cherokee County, where police say he killed four people at Youngs Asian Massage, to Atlanta, where he is accused of shooting and killing four more people at two businesses across the street from each other.

New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim said he came to show solidarity with the local Asian American community and try to understand how it felt after the March 16 attack.

“As I come here, what comes to mind is the idea that this could have been anywhere,” Kim, who is Korean American, said. “And that's what makes us so fearful right now. We're fearful because what happens next, what other violence could there be.”

Kim later recalled crying the night of the shootings and struggling to explain them to his 3 and 5-year-old boys.

New York Congresswoman Grace Meng said she wanted to honor the lives of the victims, particularly the Asian women, whose “stories and lives are just as American as anyone else.”