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One of the Atlanta shootings investigators posted a racist post against Asians on Facebook

2021-03-18T14:31:29.077Z


Captain Jay Baker promoted T-shirts on the social network with a hateful message linked to Donald Trump's claims about the coronavirus pandemic.


By Ali Gostanian and Suzanne Ciechalski - NBC News

A Cherokee County Sheriff's Office deputy, in Georgia, who was criticized Wednesday for his statements about the suspect in the shootings at spa businesses in the Atlanta metropolitan area that killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, previously shared a post on Facebook against this community.

Captain Jay Baker told a news conference Wednesday that Robert Aaron Long, who has been charged with eight counts of murder, "was pretty fed up and on the edge" and that Tuesday "was a really bad day for him, and this was what he did."

The comments were criticized as

inappropriate and insensitive

to victims.

[This mother reported the disappearance of her son and showed no remorse when the terrible truth was known]

Baker said Long told investigators that the attacks were

not racially motivated

.

"Apparently he has a problem, what he considers a sex addiction, and he sees 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.

Capt.Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office during a press conference on the three Atlanta spa shootings.

Getty Images

Following the remarks, screenshots came to light of a March 2020 Facebook post by Baker promoting anti-Asian T-shirts.

"Order while they last,"

Baker wrote over the photo of two T-shirts that read: "COVID-19 IMPORTANT VIRUS OF CHY-NA."

This message is similar to the one that former President Donald Trump transmitted from the White House for months, blaming this Asian country for the pandemic to counter harsh criticism against his management of this national emergency.

Baker did not respond to a request to speak to NBC News Wednesday, and the Facebook page appears to be no longer available.

Three shootings in metro Atlanta leave eight dead

March 17, 202100: 20

Data released Tuesday revealed that

nearly 3,800 incidents of hate

against Asians

were reported

in the past year

.

Women reported hate incidents more than twice as many times as men, according to research by the Stop AAPI Hate reporting forum.

"Beyond processing the evidence from the scene, investigators are thoroughly analyzing what motivated the suspect.

Our investigation is far from over

and we have not ruled anything out," the Atlanta Police Department said Wednesday night.

[Murder-suicide in Pennsylvania: three dead after a fight between neighbors shoveling snow]

Authorities said the shooting

may not have been racially motivated

and that the suspect told investigators that he had a sexual addiction and that he may have frequented some of the premises in the past.

It was unclear if any of the businesses had any connection to sex work.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-03-18

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