atlanta area spas late yesterday. 21-year-old robert long has been charged with eight counts of murder, will make his first court appearance tomorrow. police say the gunman told them he was not motivated by race, but they of course have not ruled that out. we ve received a number of calls about is this a hate crime. we are still early in this investigation. so we cannot make that determination at this moment. the shootings come amid an alarming escalation of crimes against asians in this country. and yes, it coincides with ugly rhetoric from former president trump and others linking the coronavirus and china as the pandemic worsened across our country. one group tracking anti-asian hate say they ve received some reports of 3,800 incidents with over two thirds of the attacks reported by women. today the vice president, president, atlanta s mayor all condemned such crimes. whatever the motivation here i know that asian-americans are very concerned. we ve been speaking abo
and yes, it coincides with ugly rhetoric from former president trump and others linking the coronavirus and china as the pandemic worsened across our country. one group tracking anti-asian hate say they ve received some reports of 3,800 incidents with over two thirds of the attacks reported by women. today the vice president, president, atlanta s mayor all condemned such crimes. whatever the motivation here i know that asian-americans are very concerned. we ve been speaking about the brutality against asian-americans for the last couple of months and i think it is very, very troubling. i do want to say to our asian-american community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged. this is an issue that s happening across the country. it is unacceptable. it is hateful, and it has to stop. just today the director of national intelligence, the dni, released a new report about extremist violence compiled with the help of the justice