Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Wednesday mentioned hate crime charges could also be acceptable for the person who went on a taking pictures rampage at three native spas, killing eight individuals, six of whom have been Asian girls.
Bottoms was requested by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer whether or not she personally believed the case needs to be prosecuted as a hate crime, noting that Georgia legislation imposes extra penalties for crimes motivated by a sufferer’s intercourse.
“I think whatever the stiffest, most appropriate charges there are, this guy should face those charges,” Bottoms replied in the course of the interview on the “Situation Room.”
“In Georgia, you can be charged with a hate crime. It covers a variety of areas, and I personally think it would be appropriate, but I will defer to the prosecutors to make that determination.”
Robert Aaron Long, 21, was charged Wednesday with eight counts of homicide in reference to the assaults.
He informed police that the brazen shootings weren’t racially motivated and claimed to have a “sex addiction.” Authorities mentioned he apparently lashed out Tuesday at what he noticed as sources of his “temptation.” All however one in all his victims have been girls.
But Bottoms mentioned she was taking the gunman’s claims about his motivations “with a grain of salt.”
“This is a man who murdered eight people in cold blood so it is very difficult to believe what he said,” the mayor informed Blitzer.
“It’s difficult to ignore the fact that many of the victims were Asian … and that he targeted these Asian massage parlors,” she added.
“And so I’ll leave it up to the prosecutors to determine what other appropriate charges may be warranted as it relates to hate crimes,” Bottoms continued, “but it’s very difficult to ignore that the Asian community has once again been targeted.”
The mayor additionally thanked legislation enforcement for their work in apprehending Long, who, in response to authorities, was heading to Florida to probably proceed the carnage at a porn business.
“This could have been so much worse,” Bottoms mentioned, including, “there was tremendous coordination across jurisdictions in our state, and so, for as tragic as it is and has been for the metropolitan Atlanta-area, we’re grateful that it was not any worse.”
