Suspect charged with eight murders in Atlanta shootings

People gather for a candlelight vigil in Garden Grove, California, to unite against the recent spate of violence targeting Asians and to express grief and outrage after yesterday's shooting that left eight people dead in Atlanta, Georgia

A 21-year-old suspect described as an addict was charged Wednesday with murdering eight people in spas around the US city of Atlanta, in triple attacks that have deeply shaken the Asian-American community. Police said Robert Aaron Long has denied a racist motive to Tuesday's attacks -- in which six of the victims were women of Asian origin -- but that they had yet to determine the shooter's reason for opening fire. ‘The suspect did take responsibility for the shootings,’ Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Office told a news conference. Long, who is white, ‘does claim it was not racially motivated,’ Baker added, but stressed that ‘this is still early’ in the investigation.