ATLANTA: Atlanta authorities have not ruled out charging the suspect in the fatal shootings of Asian women at two spas in the city with hate crimes, the police chief said on Thursday.
Robert Aaron Long has been charged with murdering four people at two spas in Atlanta and four more in Cherokee County about 40 miles (64 km) to its north on Tuesday.
Atlanta Police Chief Charles Hampton told a news conference that investigators were still trying to determine a motive but that charging Long with a hate crime was not “off the table.”
“Our investigation is looking at everything, so nothing is off the table for our investigation,” Hampton said in response to a reporter’s question about whether law enforcement was investigating the events as a possible hate crime.
Long, a 21-year-old white male, suggested to investigators that a sex addiction led him to violence. Lawmakers and anti-racism advocates have speculated the killings were motivated at least in part by anti-Asian sentiments.
Hampton said Long patronized the two Atlanta establishments he is accused of attacking using a 9mm gun. Authorities are not ready to release the names of the victims, police said.
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