A spokesman for a Georgia sheriff who came under fire on Wednesday for statements about the suspect in the shooting incident in the area of Atlanta, in which eight people were killed, including six women of Asian descent, had earlier issued an anti-Asian report shared on Facebook.
At a news conference Wednesday, Capt. Sherokee Office spokesman Jay Baker said Robert Aaron Long, who is charged with eight counts of murder, was “quite fed up and at the end of his line” and that Tuesday “was a very bad day for him, and that’s what he did. ‘
The comments were criticized as inappropriate and insensitive to the victims.
Baker said Long told investigators the attacks were not racially motivated. “He apparently has a problem, which he regards as sex addiction, and regards these places as something that allows him to go to these places, and it is a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” Baker told reporters.
Following the comments, screenshots appear from a Facebook post from Baker from March 2020 that promoted anti-Asian T-shirts.
“Place your order while it lasts,” Baker wrote above the photo of two T-shirts that read, “Covid 19 IMPORTED VIRUS FROM CHY-NA.”
Baker did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday, and it appears the Facebook page is no longer available.
The data released on Tuesday reported that nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents have been reported in the past year. Women reported 2.3 times more hate incidents than men, according to research by the Stop AAPI Hate reporting forum.
“Apart from processing evidence from the scenes, investigators are looking at what motivated the shooter. Our investigation is far from over and we have not ruled anything out,” the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement Wednesday night.
Authorities said the shooting may not have been racially motivated and that the suspect told investigators he was sexually addicted and that he may have visited regularly in the past.
It was unclear whether any of the businesses had any ties to sex work.
