Federal and local law investigators have yet to find concrete evidence that would be sufficient to build a federal hate crime case against the man accused of killing eight people in three Atlanta-area spas, several police officers told NBC News.
The suspect was charged Wednesday with eight counts of murder. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent. The suspect is white.
The lack of evidence was first reported by the Associated Press.
The first step in assessing a possible hate crime is for the local US attorney to instruct the Atlanta FBI office to open a preliminary investigation into the matter, officials said.
So far, no guidelines have been issued, officials said, because after probing electronic devices and conducting interviews, investigators saw no evidence that would lead in that direction. Hate crimes charges can be filed later, if evidence is found to support the charge.
State and local law enforcement agencies are leading the investigation, with the FBI providing support and assistance with manpower and evidence analysis.
In a statement, Kevin Rowson, a spokesman for the Atlanta FBI office, said the agency was “closely coordinating with local officials. If, in the course of local investigations, information about a potential federal violation comes to light, the FBI is prepared to investigate. ”
Georgia officials have previously stated that state charges of hate crimes are still possible, which would be separated from a federal case.
The suspect reportedly told investigators that he had a “sexual addiction” and saw the deals he aimed for as a “temptation he wanted to eliminate”. The officer who repeated the suspect’s allegations, Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, also said that Long had a “very bad day” and “that’s what he did”.
Amid outrage over the comments, Baker was dropped from the case and the sheriff’s office said he “had no intention of disrespecting any of the victims”.
Experts told NBC News that law investigators should not rule out a potential racial motive based on what a suspect says.
“This is not how we determine whether or not something is a hate crime,” Elaine Gross, president of the civil rights organization ERASE Racism, based in New York.
“We all know hate when we see it,” Senator Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Told NBC’s “Meet the Press”, adding, “It is tragic that we have been visited for this type of violence again.”
Speaking in Atlanta last week, President Joe Biden said many Asian Americans had been “attacked, accused, scapegoated and harassed” in recent months, adding that “silence is complicity”.
