Federal and local law enforcement have not yet found concrete evidence that would be enough to file a federal hate crime case against the man accused of killing eight people in three spas in Atlanta, several law enforcement officials told NBC News said.
The suspect is 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 that the local U.S. attorney ordered the FBI’s Atlanta office to open a preliminary investigation into the case, officials said.
So far, no guidelines have been given, officials said, as investigators saw no evidence leading in the direction after examining electronic devices and conducting interviews. Complaints about hate crime can be filed later if evidence is found to support the prosecution.
State and local law enforcement agencies are leading the investigation, while the FBI is providing support and assistance with manpower and evidence analysis.
In a statement, Kevin Rowson, a spokesman for Atlanta’s FBI Office, said the agency was working closely with local authorities. If information in the course of local investigations comes to light of a possible federal violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate. ‘
Officials in Georgia have previously stated that charges of state hate crimes are still possible, which would be separate from a federal case.
The suspect allegedly told investigators he had a “sexual addiction” and saw the businesses he was targeting as a “temptation for him to eliminate.” The officer who repeated the allegations of the suspect, Capt. Jay Baker of the Sherokee County Sheriff’s Office, also said Long had a “very bad day” and “that’s what he did.”
Amid outrage over the comments, Baker was removed from the case and the sheriff’s office said he did not “intend to disrespect any of the victims.”
Experts told NBC News that law enforcement officers should not rule out a possible racial motive based on what a suspect says.
“This is not how we determine if something is a hate crime or not,” Elaine Gross, president of the New York Civil Rights Organization, told ERASE Racism.
“We all know hate when we see it,” Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” saying, “It’s tragic that we were visited again by this kind of violence.”
President Joe Biden said in Atlanta last week that many Asian Americans in recent months have been “attacked, blamed, scapegoated and harassed, adding:” silence is complicity. “
