A prosecutor in Georgia on Tuesday said the suspect in the shooting deaths of eight people at Atlanta-area spas had targeted some of his victims because they were Asian, thus committing hate crimes, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old suspect, Robert Aaron Long, faces "malice murder" and aggravated assault charges in Cherokee County, Georgia, connected to a string of shootings at day spas in March, in which six of the eight people killed were Asian women.
In a court filing, the Fulton County prosecutor said Long had targeted four women because of their race, national origin and gender, and said she was planning to seek the death penalty against Long, the Times reported.