COLUMBUS, Ohio — Robert Aaron Long, the 21-year-old suspected gunman accused of fatally shooting eight people, including six Asian women, at three Atlanta-area spas was charged with eight counts of murder on Wednesday, according to authorities.
Officials investigating the incident said Long denied the attack was racially motivated but officials said it was still too early to rule out a hate crime.
The FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity."
He told investigators he had a "sex addiction" and saw the spas as a temptation he wanted to eliminate, according to authorities.
Lisa Buy, the owner of 61Pho in Columbus said she was in disbelief after hearing about the shootings and is not fully convinced by the remarks of Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.
“Even if racism wasn’t present, there’s always an underlying presence of it,” she said.
“It’s just so concerning. I feel like I’m constantly checking in with friends and family and we’re all wondering you know, ‘oh my god. What’s going to happen next?”
During the pandemic, crimes against Asian-Americans have spiked.
Research from Stop AAPI Hate shows women have reported twice as many hate incidents as men.
Since the fatal shootings on Tuesday, people from across the United States have been showing support for the Asian community using the hashtag, “StopAsianHate.”
61Pho used the hashtag and so did Stonewall Columbus.
“Violence against any community is violence against all of us,” said Densil R. Porteous, the organization’s Executive Director.
“The intersectional identity of the queer community is that we have a variety of ethnicities and races that we embrace. It’s important for us to speak up and speak out when violence or harm is caused.”
Porteous and Buy hope that their message goes beyond a hashtag.
“We can support Asian American-owned businesses. Too many things are happening right now that are against the Asian American community,” Buy said.
“Hate is the real virus here.”
In the meantime, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris plan to meet with Asian-American leaders and advocates in Atlanta on Friday.
On Thursday, Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack released a statement saying, "The tragedies in Georgia on Tuesday evening are abhorrent and steeped in racism and white supremacy. Crimes targeting our Asian-American and Pacific Islander community members have grown exponentially over the last year, and it must stop. The United States is a diverse country, and we must all stand together in solidarity with our AAPI neighbors.”