Cop Who Claimed Atlanta Spa Shooter Had ‘A Bad Day’ Shared Photo Of A Racist T-Shirt On Facebook
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The police officer who claimed the Atlanta spa shooter was having ‘a bad day’ when he killed eight people, including six Asian women, reportedly shared photographs of a racist T-shirt on Facebook.
The T-shirt in question bears the slogan, ‘Covid-19: Imported Virus From Chy-na’ alongside a biohazard symbol, mirroring the sort of prejudiced language aimed at Chinese people during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Georgia sheriff’s captain Jay Baker was widely criticised after he appeared to downplay the role of anti-Asian bias in the attack during a press conference, telling reporters, ‘Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did.’
After the joint press conference, held with the Atlanta Police Department on Wednesday, March 17, screenshots began to emerge from Baker’s Facebook page, showing the T-shirt. These appear to have been first spotted by Twitter user, Rich Phelps.
The find was then reported by The Daily Beast, which noted that the shirt in question was apparently purchased for $22 from Deadline Apparel, a customisable clothing company owned by a former Cherokee County deputy sheriff.
As per a March 10 Instagram post, it would also appear that Deadline Apparel prints shirts for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard, a ‘ceremonial unit, all volunteers, who represent not only the Sheriff’s Office but also the county when participating in a variety of events’.
In one March 2020 post that showed the shirt, Baker reportedly wrote, ‘Place your order while they last’, while in a similar April 2020 post, the caption read, ‘Love my shirt. Get yours while they last.’
The posts were taken down from Baker’s page shortly after the publication of The Daily Beast’s article. Less than an hour after this, Baker’s entire Facebook page was deleted, Forbes reports.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, has admitted responsibility for the deadly shooting at Atlanta-area spas on Tuesday, March 16. At the press conference, it was stated that Long may have a ‘sex addiction’ and ‘could have frequented’ some of the spas where the shooting took place.
Many people have expressed scepticism at the idea that race didn’t play a factor in the attack, with Rep. Ted Lieu tweeting:
Having one possible motive does not negate other motives. Suppose a murderer has a food addiction and only shoots employees at Korean restaurants. That would arguably be racially motivated.
Long is currently being detained without bond in Cherokee County, and is facing four counts of murder and a charge of aggravated assault, as per the county sheriff’s office. It’s understood that more charges are possible.
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