- Six of the eight victims were of Asian descent
- Suspect, a 21-year-old white male, indicated he had a ‘sexual addiction’
- US on alert over possible anti-Asian American motive
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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”.
Related: Atlanta spa shootings: US on alert over possible anti-Asian American motive
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.
