Police in at least four major U.S. cities have increased their presence in Asian neighborhoods following the arrest of an Atlanta-area gunman who has been accused of killing eight people.
The New York City Police Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau on Tuesday vowed to deploy “assets to our great Asian communities across the city out of an abundance of caution,” despite the attacks having “no known nexus” to the city itself. An NYPD spokesperson told the Washington Examiner the department’s Critical Response Command has been deployed in multiple Asian communities.
On Wednesday, five officers with the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force were seen patrolling the streets and handing out fliers to Asian residents.
“We are out here handing out fliers to the Asian community so they can know how to report hate crimes and how to call 911, to let them know it’s OK to report a crime,” NYPD community affairs Officer Andrew Licul told the New York Post.
Out west, San Francisco Mayor London Breed directed law enforcement to “increase patrols in areas with a high number of Asian residents, visitors, and businesses immediately.” In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has instructed her city’s department to do the same.
Philadelphia police also are boosting their presence in Asian communities. “We are continuing to monitor the events around the tragic shooting of Asian Americans in Atlanta. While there is currently no known connection to our area, out of an abundance of caution, we have bolstered patrols around Asian communities and businesses,” the department said in a tweet on Wednesday.
The enhanced deployments follow the apprehension of Robert Aaron Long, 21, who police said shot and killed eight people in three Georgia Asian-owned spas on Tuesday.
ATLANTA SPAS SHOOTING SUSPECT HAD SEX ADDICTION AND WANTED TO ‘ELIMINATE’ TEMPTATION, POLICE SAY
During a press conference on Wednesday, law enforcement authorities said it was too early to determine if the shootings were a hate crime, and they posited that Long had been suffering from sexual addiction. Officers also said he may have frequented some of these places in the past.
“The suspect did take responsibility for the shootings,” Capt. Jay Baker said. “He said that early on, once we began interviews with him. He claims that these — as the chief said, this is still early, but he does claim it was not racially motivated. He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places, and it’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
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Rumors quickly began to brew that the motive for the shootings was hate-related as anti-Asian incidents have risen since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
In February, the NYPD noted a total of three hate crimes targeting Asian residents, up from zero in all of 2020. Total hate crimes in the city were down 26% at the time. California has experienced a surge in the targeted violence, but a similar rise has not been observed in Chicago.
