Six Asian women killed in Atlanta spa shootings

ATLANTA: Six Asian women were among eight people shot and killed at spas around the US city of Atlanta, raising fears Wednesday that it might be the most violent chapter yet in a wave of attacks on Asian-Americans, sparking widespread political condemnation including US President who reactions from Biden calling it very troublesome. The shootings have come as reports of attacks against Asian-Americans have spiked in recent months -- fueled during the Covid-19 pandemic, activists believe, by talk of the "Chinese virus" by former president Donald Trump and others. A white man is in custody on suspicion of staging all three attacks, police said as a Georgia state Democratic party leader suggested the attack matched "a pattern" of violence on Asian-Americans during the pandemic. Four of the victims were killed at Young´s Asian Massage near Acworth, a suburb of Georgia state capital Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County sheriff´s office told the paper the victims were two Asian women, a white woman, and a white man, while a Hispanic man was wounded. Police separately confirmed that four women had been killed in attacks on two other spas in the northeast of the city. Describing the scene in northeast Atlanta, the city police department said: "Upon arrival, officers located three females deceased inside the location from apparent gunshot wounds." While on the scene, officers were advised of shots fired across the street, where they found a fourth female victim. Police told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that all four were Asian women. South Korea´s Yonhap News Agency reported the country´s foreign ministry had confirmed that four of the victims were of Korean descent.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the "horrific shootings" in Atlanta. White House officials have been in touch with the mayor and will stay in contact with the FBI, press secretary Jen Psaki said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking during a visit to South Korea, said "We are horrified by this violence which has no place in America or anywhere." Authorities have identified Robert Aaron Long as a suspect in all three shootings. Based on the pattern of surveillance video from the shooting scenes, Atlanta police spokesman Sergeant John Chafee told AFP: "It is extremely likely our suspect is the same as Cherokee County's, who is in custody.""We are working closely with them to confirm with certainty our cases are related," he added. Long was taken into custody after a "brief pursuit" about 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Atlanta, according to a statement by the Georgia Department of Safety on Facebook. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was assisting in the investigation, a spokesman told The shootings come as reports of attacks against Asian-Americans, primarily elders, have spiked in recent months -- fueled during the Covid-19 pandemic, activists believe, by talk of the "Chinese virus" by former president Donald Trump and others. In an interview Tuesday evening before word of the shootings came out, Trump again used the term "China virus."

News of the shootings came just hours after the release of a report by the advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate suggested a marked increase in hate crimes against Asia- Americans -- with women disproportionately affected. In a tally of incidents reported to the group between March 2020 and February this year, almost 70 percent of Asian-American survey respondents said they had faced verbal harassment and just over one in 10 said they had experienced physical assault.

In his reaction to the attack, President Joe Biden said violence against Asian Americans is "very troublesome" and spoke of the concern in the Asian American community. "I know that Asian Americans are very concerned because, as you know, I´ve been speaking about the brutality against Asian-Americans for the last couple of months," he said. "I think that it is very, very troublesome." Biden stressed that motivation in the slayings had yet "to be determined." Meanwhile, former US president Barack Obama said violence against people of Asian descent "must end."