Atlanta spa shooting suspect ‘frequented’ massage parlors before eight killed – latest updates

Law enforcement authorities in cities across the US were on alert on Wednesday amid fears that the gunman had targeted victims because they were Asian Americans, reports Miranda Bryant for the Guardian:

In New York City, the police department’s counter-terrorism bureau said it was monitoring the shooting in Georgia and would deploy additional officers to Asian communities across the city “out of an abundance of caution”.

Seattle officials said they were increasing outreach to Asian Americans and community organisations across the city and police presence with police patrols and community service officers.

Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan, and chief of police, Adrian Diaz, labelled the killings in Atlanta an “act of hate”.

“We grieve with Atlanta and for the victims and their families. We also stand together with our Asian American community against the rise of hate crimes towards Asian Americans, especially targeting Chinese Americans,” they said in a joint statement.

Stop AAPI Hate, a not-for-profit coalition tracking incidents of violence, discrimination and harassment, issued a statement saying that many in the Asian American community had felt targeted over the past year.

“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,” it said.

“This latest attack will only exacerbate the fear and pain that the Asian American community continues to endure.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the group released a report showing that Asian Americans reported nearly 3,800 hate-related incidents during the pandemic, a number that experts believe to be just a fraction of the true total.

Georgia senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, issued a statement about the shootings.

“I’m heartbroken for the victims of last night’s horrific shootings in Georgia, and for the victims’ families.”

“I commend the authorities for swiftly apprehending the armed suspect.”

“While the motive for last night’s terrible violence remains under investigation, I express my love and support for and stand in solidarity with the Asian-American community, which has endured a shocking increase in violence and harassment over the last year.”

The police press conference in Atlanta provided new information about the suspect and how he was apprehended by police, but there has been little information made available about the victims.

Five people were shot in Cherokee county, Georgia just before 5pm on Tuesday. Two Asian women, a white woman and a white man died, according to police, who have not shared an update on the condition of the fifth person, a Hispanic man. They all appeared to have been shot inside the massage parlor.

In Atlanta, about 30 miles from that business, four more people were killed in shootings at two massage parlors across the street from each other, according to police.

Three women were found dead from gunshot wounds in the first business, and one woman was found dead from a gunshot wound in the other location. Police said that all four victims appeared to be Asian women.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that diplomats in Atlanta confirmed four of the seven women killed were of Korean descent. Their nationalities are not known.

The advocacy group Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta said the broader context of the shootings couldn’t be ignored.

Phi Nguyen, litigation director of the group, said in a statement: “That the Asian women murdered yesterday were working highly vulnerable and low-wage jobs during an ongoing pandemic speaks directly to the compounding impacts of misogyny, structural violence and white supremacy.”

Vice-President Kamala Harris just commented on the shooting from the White House.

We grieve for the loss, our prayers are extended to the families of those who have been killed. And it speaks to a larger issue, which is the issue of violence in our country and what we must do to never tolerate it and to always speak out against it. The investigation is ongoing, we don’t yet know, we are not yet clear about the motive, 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 all people, but knowing the increasing level of hate crime against our Asian American brothers and sisters, we also want to speak out in solidarity with them and acknowledge that none of us should ever be silent in the face of any form of hate.

At the Atlanta press conference, Capt Jay Baker of Cherokee county, Georgia, shared more details from the police interview with the suspect.

Baker said the suspect took responsibility for the shooting and said it wasn’t racially-motivated, though officials still have to investigate whether those two things are actually true.

Baker said there was no indication anyone was working with the suspect and that the suspect had indicated he saw massage parlors as an “outlet”.

“He was attempting to take out this temptation,” Baker said.

Chief Rodney Bryant of the Atlanta police said the department had received many calls about whether the shooting had been classified as a hate crime. “We are still early in this investigation, so we cannot make this determination at this moment,” Bryant said at an ongoing press conference in Atlanta.

Sheriff Frank Reynolds of Cherokee county, Georgia, where one of the targeted spas was located, said police had interviewed the suspect overnight and that he indicated he had “sexual addiction” issues. “We believe that he frequented these places in the past,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the suspect’s family saw a police alert identifying the suspect and contacted the department to help them find him.

Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance-Bottoms, said the suspect was on his way to Florida when he was apprehended by police and that more shootings may have been planned.

Lance-Bottoms said she spoke to Joe Biden about the shooting and that the White House had offered to provide additional resources to the city as needed. “A crime against any community is a crime against us all,” she said.

A series of shootings at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area have left eight people dead, the majority of them women of Asian descent, leading to fears the killer had a racial motive.

The names of the victims have not yet been released, but police said that six were Asian and all but one were women.

Police have arrested a suspect in the shootings, a 21-year-old white male from Georgia, and are scheduled to hold a press conference this morning.

We will be providing updates on the victims, investigation and reaction to the shooting.

Catch up with the main story here:

And here’s a breakdown of what we know so far: