News Roundup

A series of shootings in the Atlanta area that left eight people dead is the major criminal law news story of the week and has launched the issue of increasing violence committed against Asians to the forefront of national conversation.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news. Atlanta.  As the Associated Press reports, on Tuesday five people were shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlor in Woodstock, Georgia, about 30 miles north of Atlanta.  Shortly thereafter, three people were shot at Gold Spa in Atlanta and another person was shot at the nearby Aromatherapy Spa.  Six of the eight people shot were Asian women, a fact that added to existing widespread fear among Asians that they increasingly have been targeted for race-based violence during the coronavirus pandemic. A 21-year-old white man, Robert Aaron Long, was arrested hours later after being forced from the highway by sheriff’s deputies in southern Georgia.  Based on statements he made to law enforcement, Long is thought to have been driving to Florida to commit more violence. While Long apparently has said that the attacks were not motivated by racial animus despite the fact that almost everyone who was killed was Asian, the attacks have added to fears that the violence is part of a recent increase in race-based violent crime.  A Georgia sheriff’s office spokesman involved in the investigation, Jay Baker, who drew criticism for saying that Long was having a “bad day” when he committed the shootings, came under more intense scrutiny when [...]