A spokesman for the Georgia sheriff who was attacked on Wednesday for statements he made about the suspect in the Atlanta area spa shooting that killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, previously shared an anti- Asian on Facebook.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Captain Jay Baker, a spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, said Robert Aaron Long, who was charged with eight counts of murder, “was quite fed up and kind of in the end of his rope “and that Tuesday” was a very bad day for him, and this is what he did. “
The comments were criticized as inappropriate and insensitive to the victims.
Baker said Long told investigators that the attacks were not racially motivated. “He apparently has a problem, which he considers an addiction to sex, and sees these places as something that allows him to go to those places, and it is a temptation that he wanted to eliminate,” Baker told reporters.
Following the comments, screenshots emerged from a March 2020 Facebook post by Baker promoting anti-Asian t-shirts.
“Place your order while they last,” wrote Baker above the photo of two T-shirts that read, “Covid 19 VIRUS IMPORTED FROM CHY-NA.”
Baker did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday, and the Facebook page appears to be no longer available.
Data published on Tuesday reported that nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents were reported last year. Women reported hate incidents 2.3 times more than men, according to research by the Stop AAPI Hate whistleblower forum.
“In addition to processing the evidence from the scenes, investigators are carefully examining what motivated the sniper. Our investigation is far from over and we have not ruled out anything,” the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Authorities said the shootings may not have been racially motivated and that the suspect told investigators that he had a sexual addiction and may have frequented some of the locations in the past.
It was not clear whether any of the companies had ties to sex work.
