The flag is flown at half mast for the victims of the Atlanta shooting in Washington, DC.
Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP / Getty Images
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President Joe Biden ordered the US flag to be flown at half mast Thursday in honor of the eight people killed in shootings at massage parlors in the Atlanta area.
The president issued a proclamation ordering that the flags in all public buildings, land, military and diplomatic posts must be flown at half mast until sunset on Monday, “as a sign of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on the 16th. March 2021 in the Atlanta metropolitan area ”.
Police have arrested a suspect in the shooting, who denied having a racist motivation and blamed his actions on a disturbance derived from his “sexual addiction,” local authorities said Wednesday.
The event, which left eight dead, including six women of Asian descent, has reignited debate over the growing hate attacks against Americans with roots in Asia, which have reached nearly 3,800 across the country since the pandemic began.
The authorities have not ruled out for now that shootings may constitute hate crimes and they are still investigating what happened, but on Wednesday they revealed that the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, has denied that his actions were “racially motivated.”
Biden declined to comment on a possible motivation for the suspect, but claimed that The attack has stoked fear among Asian Americans, who have been the target of a wave of insults and racist attacks since the pandemic began.
“Whatever the motivation, I know that Asian Americans are very concerned,” Biden said in a statement to reporters Wednesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the first African American to hold this position, but also the first person of Asian descent (her mother is from India) to reach the Vice Presidency, highlighted the need to show “solidarity” to the community of Asian origin in the country, and not to “remain silent in the face of any form of hatred.”
With information from EFE
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