Shootings at two massage parlors in Atlanta and one in the suburbs on Tuesday evening left eight people dead, many of them were women of Asian descent, authorities have said. A 21-year-old man was taken into custody in southwest Georgia hours later after a manhunt.
The attacks began around 5 p.m., when five people were shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlour in a strip mall near a rural area in Acworth, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Jay Baker said. Two people died at the scene and three were transported to a hospital where two of them also died.
Advertisement
Atlanta police officers while responding to a call of a robbery in progress at one spa around 5:50 p.m. found three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds. While they were at that scene, they learned of a call reporting shots fired at another spa across the street and found a woman who appeared to have been shot dead inside the business. Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said all four victims were female and appeared Asian.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry in a statement on Wednesday said that its diplomats in Atlanta have confirmed from police that four of the victims who died were women of Korean descent. The ministry said the office of its Consulate General in Atlanta is trying to confirm the nationality of the women.
The killings came amid a recent wave of attacks against Asian Americans that coincided with the spread of the coronavirus across the United States.
Since the start of COVID-19, Asian seniors have disproportionately been the target of cruel verbal and physical attacks that have exponentially increased. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 126 incidents against elderly Asian Americans have been reported from March to December 2020. Asian elders are seen as easy targets as most don’t speak English and cannot defend themselves and cannot report the incident.
The everyday citizens are calling for an end to discriminatory hate crimes, the hashtag is shining a spotlight on xenophobia that needs to end.
This has sparked a furor online, where social media influencers like Chriselle Lim, Susie Lau, Tina Craig, and Instagram’s own Director of Fashion Partnerships Eva Chen shared images of their grandparents in an effort to raise awareness of what is happening. Celebrities such as Gemma Chan, Olivia Munn, and Daniel Dae Kim have publicly condemned the intolerance. High-profile fashion designers Prabal Gurung and Phillip Lim update their feeds with the movement’s latest developments.
Outraged citizens are condemning anti-Asian violence following Tuesday’s horrific shooting spree with hashtags #StopAsianHate and #AsianLivesMatter is currently trending on multiple social media platforms.
The hashtags #StopAsianHate and #AsianLivesMatter are currently trending on multiple social media platforms.
“A disgusting and disturbing example of how the spread of domestic terrorism has been allowed to torment communities,” tweeted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Tuesday, about the potentially racially motivated attack. “These acts are the visible manifestation of hateful words birthing hateful acts! An attack on One is an attack on ALL! #StopAsianHate.”
“Shocked and appalled by the hateful massacre in Atlanta,” seconded Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat congressman representing Brooklyn and Queens. “We stand with the families of the victims and the entire [Asian American and Pacific Islander] AAPI community. Words matter. Xenophobia has deadly consequences. We must #StopAsianHate now.”
The spa massacre is part of a nationwide uptick in violence against Asians amid the coronavirus pandemic. New York City saw the biggest spike in racially motivated violence with a whopping 28 anti-Asian attacks in 2020 alone — compared to just two incidents the year prior.
The NYPD is responding to the attack by ramping up its presence in Asian communities throughout New York.
Many online commenters claimed the deadly crime was fueled by former President Donald Trump calling COVID-19 “the China virus” in reference to the disease’s origins in Wuhan.
Last week, President Joe Biden condemned the appalling anti-Asian trend, and said, “it is wrong, it is un-American and it must stop.”
Barack Obama, too, has tweeted about the “alarming rise in anti-Asian violence that must end.”
Even as we’ve battled the pandemic, we’ve continued to neglect the longer-lasting epidemic of gun violence in America. Although the shooter’s motive is not yet clear, the identity of the victims underscores an alarming rise in anti-Asian violence that must end.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 17, 2021