The suspected gunman in the shootings at spas around Atlanta, Georgia, has been charged with eight cases of murder and one of aggravated assault, police said on Wednesday.

Six of the eight murder victims were of Asian descent, and seven of them were women. The attack has spurred fears through the Asian American community, which has been increasingly targeted during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Was there a racial motivation?

Tthe 21-year-old gunman has admitted to the shootings, although he maintains they were not racially motivated. He claimed to have a "sex addiction," with authorities saying he lashed out at what he saw as sources of temptation.

"The suspect did take responsibility for the shooting. These locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something that he shouldn't be doing. It's a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate," Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department said at a news conference. 

State Representative Bee Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American to serve in the Georgia House, said he shootings were at the "intersection of gender-based violence, misogyny and xenophobia."

US President Joe Biden said he was briefed by the attorney general and FBI director on the shootings. "The question of motivation is still to be determined. But whatever the motivation here I know that Asian-Americans are very concerned," Biden told reporters at the White House.

Vice President Kamala Harris said, "Our prayers are extended to the families of those who have been killed, and it speaks to a larger issue, which is the issue of violence in our country and what we must do to never tolerate it and to always speak out against it."

How did the attacks happen?

The attack began at around 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday when four people were killed and another was wounded at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County. 

Police officers responding to a call of robbery in Atlanta shortly before 6 p.m. arrived at the Gold Spa beauty salon and found three women shot dead. Officers were called to a separate spa across the street where another woman was found dead from a gunshot wound. 

The assailant lived in Woodstock, Georgia, and attended Crabapple First Baptist Church in Milton, an Atlanta suburb. A 9 millimeter firearm was found in his car. He is said to have frequented the spas. 

He was spotted in southern Georgia, far from the crime scene. He was arrested without incident after a highway pursuit. His family's cooperation with the police helped in his quick arrest, said authorities.

It was the sixth mass-shooting, defined as an incident where four or more people are shot, in the US this year.

tg/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)