Atlanta gunman charged with "malice murder" and aggravated assault
23 March 2021
The 21-year-old white man who confessed to opening fire at three Atlanta-area spas and killing eight people, including six Asian women, has been charged with "malice murder" and aggravated assault, a county sheriff said Monday.
Why it matters: The killings spurred nationwide outrage over anti-Asian violence in the U.S. Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders and public officials have called for police to rule the shootings a hate crime, arguing that law enforcement are unable to recognize a case of anti-Asian hate.
Details: Robert Aaron Long already faced eight charges of murder. The Cherokee Sheriff's Office also earlier charged him with one count of assault.
- Malice murder is an offense in Georgia alleging implied or express malice. It's unclear whether a racial motive has been ruled out.
What they're saying: "In an effort to preserve the case for prosecution, the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office will not be making any additional comments about this case at this time," the sheriff's office said in a statement to news outlets.
The big picture: Anti-Asian racism has been on the rise since the pandemic started, with Asian women more than twice as likely to report hate incidents than Asian men, per Stop AAPI Hate.
- Over 183 national organizations led by AAPI groups are calling on President Biden to set aside $300 million for addressing anti-Asian hate.
- Last week, the president urged passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which would improve hate crime tracking and tap a Justice Department official for reviewing COVID-related hate crimes, among other things.
Go deeper:Why attacks against the AAPI community are difficult to prosecute as hate crimes
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.