US lawmakers demand prosecutors charge suspect in Georgia massage parlour shootings with hate crime
- Members of Congress visit the three massage businesses in Georgia where a gunman killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent
- They also met with the families of two of the victims, Xiaojie Tan and Yong Ae Yue, and local leaders of the Asian-American community
Members of Congress laid flowers on Sunday at the three massage businesses in Georgia where a gunman killed eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, and demanded that prosecutors charge the suspect with a hate crime and the US Department of Justice take a leading role in the probe.
The congressional delegation was led by members of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, which said Asian-Americans have faced increased hostility since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawmakers said they wanted to experience the shooter’s roughly 48-kilometre trip from Cherokee county, where police say he killed four people at Youngs Asian Massage, to Atlanta, where he is accused of shooting and killing four more people at two businesses across the street from each other.
New Jersey Representative Andy Kim said he came to show solidarity with the local Asian-American community and try to understand how it felt after the March 16 attack.
“As I come here, what comes to mind is the idea that this could have been anywhere,” Kim, who is Korean-American, said. “And that’s what makes us so fearful right now. We’re fearful because what happens next, what other violence could there be.”