Victims include wives,
mothers and spa employees.
The crime is so horrific.
The City of Atlanta is promising to
help bring justice for the victims,
families and loved ones.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance
Bottoms is joining us.
We appreciate the time.
Thank you for having
me the FBI director of the
US Attorney General had been
briefed on the shootings,
working closely with local jurisdictions.
What can you tell us about
where things stand in the
investigation and where it goes from here?
Well, we are grateful for the coordination
that allow for quick arrest of the
suspect and where we go from here is
that we have to wait and see what the
prosecutors decide to charge him with.
We know right now he's charged
with eight counts of murder.
That's appropriate.
And the determination will be made by
the prosecutors and perhaps a grand
jury at some point to whether or not
he will be charged with hate crimes.
And this is a tragedy.
That is just really unimaginable.
Eight people left home yesterday
and their families expected them
to return and they did not.
And it.
Just really speaks to the balance
on that we are seeing across
the country right now,
and it's just absolutely senseless.
There is a national
conversation about whether
this should be a hate crime
and whether it's formally
designated as a hate crime or not.
It does not diminish the pain or fear
it's causing for the Asian American
and Pacific Islander community,
especially after an increase in
attacks towards that community.
What is your message to them tonight we
stand with you? In the same way that
African Americans across the country
called for others to stand with us as
we were experiencing so much pain and
trauma over the past several months,
I think that it's appropriate that we also
show that same compassion and empathy
to our Asian brothers and sisters.
Yeah, we're seeing in our social media,
we're seeing that on the news
where Asians are being targeted.
Unfairly of valiently and it.
Any any type of hatred towards anyone
in our community is hatred towards us
all and so we stand ready to provide
more specifically any resources that
we we need to provide on behalf
of the City of Atlanta.
But just as a larger community,
I want those in the Asian American
community to know that that we
stand with you and that we are
feeling your pain as well.
Anet is a big and important
part of our community.
Metro Atlanta contains one of
the largest Korean American
populations in the country, Koreans,
a third most spoken language,
and we learned that the Consulate
general of the Republic of Korea in
Atlanta confirms that for the women
killed in the attack were Korean
Nationals or Korean Americans,
have you talked with any of the
victims families, or do you plan to?
I've not spoken with any
of the victims families.
If it is at the appropriate time,
I will certainly do that.
I've not spoken.
With them today,
but we have been in contact
with many and the Asian American
community just to determine what,
if any, additional resources
and support that we can provide.
I know that it's been very helpful
for people to know that we stand
ready and stand beside them to
make sure that they are kept safe,
but to the victims families.
I know that this is absolutely
devastating for them and our
thoughts and prayers are with them.
And it stood out to me today.
Mayor Bottoms in your press conference
that you said whether it's a
senseless violence we've seen on our
streets or more targeted violence
like this that a crime against any
community is a crime against us.
So what message would you like
to leave with people concerning
the efforts to curb it? You
know, in the in the midst of all
of the conversations that we've
had about colon and so many other
challenges that we face as a country
we many of the important discussions
regarding guns and an applications
for guns and how quickly people
can get guns in their hands have
really been put on the backburner.
An anytime that you have a shooting
an especially a mass shooting,
it's important for us to continue those
conversations and continue to do the
work that we need to do to make sure.
That people of sane mind and law
abiding citizen's are the ones
who are able to access guns.
This man clearly was very disturbed
based on the reports we've seen he's
had a history of some other mental
health challenges and I think it's
going to be important for us to take
a look and make sure that he was even
lawfully able to secure this weapon.
Mayor
bottoms. Thank you for the time.
We appreciate it. Thank you.