Suspect in Georgia massage parlor shootings charged with murder, assault
17 March 2021
The suspect arrested following three separate shooting incidents in Georgia that killed eight people has been charged with murder and assault, according to local authorities, AP reports.
Why it matters: Of theeight people killed in the shootings, six of the victims were Asian women, and advocacy groups including Stop AAPI Hate have denounced the lethal incident as the latest in a spree of increased violence targeting Asian Americans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Another person was injured.
What they're saying: Officials are still investigating whether the shootings were a hate crime, per AP.
- Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said officers interviewed the suspect on Tuesday and that he "made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction, and may have frequented some of these places in the past."
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.