Police officials in US cities were on alert on Wednesday amid fears that a series of fatal shootings in Atlanta, which killed eight, targeted victims largely because they were Asian Americans.
Six of the people killed in three massage parlors in Georgia on Tuesday were women of Asian descent, leading to fears of racial motives.
Suspect Robert Aaron Long, 21, was taken into custody after a police hunt.
On Wednesday morning, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms praised the police for their “quick work” and that “a crime against any community is a crime against all of us”.
She said she has been in close contact with the White House and the Atlanta police as they “investigate the suspect responsible for this senseless violence in our city.”
“My prayers are with the families and friends of the victims whose lives were interrupted by these shootings,” said the mayor.
Lance Bottoms added: “Yesterday was a tragic day in our state. Whether the senseless violence we see on our streets or the targeted violence, as we saw against any community yesterday, it is a crime against us all. “
The National Forum of Asian-Pacific American Women said they were “shocked and devastated” by the murders. Sung Yeon Choimorrow, the group’s executive director, added: “We are grieving with the families of these victims. We are horrified and remain concerned about the safety of members of our community across the country, as violence against Asian Americans has increased. ”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Wednesday morning that Joe Biden was informed overnight about the “horrific shootings” and that White House officials were in contact with the mayor’s office. Atlanta and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Seoul meeting South Korea’s Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, said he was “horrified” by the violence, which would have killed four ethnic Korean people , and said that “it has no place in America or anywhere”.
He offered his “deepest condolences” to the victims’ family and friends and to “everyone in the Korean community who are shaken and deeply disturbed by this incident”.
Atlanta police said they had increased patrols in the area of the murders and that policemen had been sent to check similar businesses nearby.
The shootings – all reportedly carried out by a single sniper – began around 5 pm, when five people were shot at the Youngs Asian Massage Parlor in a mall near a rural area in Acworth, in Cherokee County, about 30 miles north of Atlanta.
The next shooting occurred at 5:50 pm, when police in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, responding to a robbery call, found three women killed by apparent gunshot wounds at Gold Spa.
While in that scene, they heard of a call reporting shots fired at another spa across the street, the Aromatherapy Spa, and found a woman who appeared to have been shot dead inside.
The suspect’s car was filmed in the Acworth shooting and the suspect was taken into custody in Crisp County.
Lance Bottoms said the authorities think the suspect may have been trying to escape to Florida when he was arrested and may be planning further attacks in that state.
In New York City, the police department’s counterterrorism office said he was monitoring the shooting in Georgia and would deploy additional officers to Asian communities across the city “just in case.”
Seattle officials said they are increasing the reach to Asian Americans and community organizations across the city and the police presence with police patrols and community service officers.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Adrian Diaz labeled the Atlanta killings an “act of hatred”.
“We suffer with Atlanta and the victims and their families. We have also joined our Asian American community against the increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans, especially against Chinese Americans, ”they said in a joint statement.
They added: “In Seattle and across our country, our Asian American neighbors, places of worship and businesses were deliberately targets of racism, xenophobia and acts of violence related to misconceptions about Covid-19.”
This comes after an increase in attacks against Asian Americans across the country since the coronavirus pandemic, which spread after initial infections in China.
US advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate received 3,795 complaints last year and said there were at least 503 anti-Asian hate incidents reported between January 1 and February 28 this year alone.
Stop AAPI Hate said the shootings in Atlanta were “an indescribable tragedy – for the victims’ families in the first place, but also for the Asian American community, which has recovered from the high levels of racist attacks over the past year. “
The organization added: “This latest attack will only exacerbate the fear and pain that the Asian American community continues to endure.”
However, investigators also believe that Long may have a sexual addiction and frequented the types of businesses he allegedly aimed at, which authorities described as massage parlors.
“During his interview, he gave no indication that this was racially motivated,” said Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds.
“We asked him specifically and the answer was no.”
However, such developments may not do much to allay fears. California Congresswoman Judy Chu said Asian Americans have “faced a relentless increase in attacks and harassment in the past year” and urged people on Twitter to “condemn this violence and help us #StopAsianHate”.
Los Angeles and San Francisco, in particular, have large neighborhoods and Asian American populations.
Derrick Johnson, president and chief executive of the NAACP civil rights campaign group, condemned the shootings “in the strongest possible terms”.
Last week, on the first anniversary of the Covid-19 shutdown, Joe Biden condemned the increase in attacks.
The president added: “It is wrong. It is not American. And that must stop. “