Jeremy Lin: 'We Cannot Lose Hope' After Atlanta Massage Parlor Shootings
Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports
Santa Cruz Warriors guard Jeremy Lin is speaking out following shootings at three metro Atlanta massage parlors that left eight people, including six Asian women dead.
"To my Asian American family, please take time to grieve but know you're loved, seen and IMPORTANT," Lin tweeted. "We have to keep standing up, speaking out, rallying together and fighting for change. We cannot lose hope!!"
Cherokee County authorities responded to a call about a shooting at Young's Asian Massage Parlor to find four people dead and one person injured. Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee sheriff's office said the victims were two Asian women, a white woman and a white man. The fifth victim was a Latinx man who was injured and taken to the hospital.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, surveillance footage showed the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, arrived around 4:50 p.m. ET, minutes before the shooting.
Around 5:45 p.m., two more shootings occurred at separate massage parlors in Atlanta. Police first responded to a call at Gold Spa and found three women dead from gunshot wounds. Officers were then called across the street to Aromatherapy Spa, where they found a woman dead from a gunshot wound. Atlanta police said all four victims appeared to be Asian women.
Long, 21, was arrested on Tuesday night following a police chase.
Tuesday's shootings come amid an increase in violence against Asian Americans across the nation.
In a recent Facebook post, Lin, who is Taiwanese American, detailed how Asian Americans experience racism and said that his generation is "tired" of dealing with prejudice and bigotry.
"Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans. We are tired of being told that we don't experience racism, we are tired of being told to keep our heads down and not make trouble," Lin wrote.
He continued: "Being an Asian American doesn't mean we don't experience poverty and racism. Being a 9 year NBA veteran doesn't protect me from being called "coronavirus" on the court. Being a man of faith doesn't mean I don't fight for justice, for myself and for others."
Following Lin's account of being called "coronavirus" during a game, the G League launched an investigation into the incident and later identified the player involved. The league plans to handle the matter internally.
According to the Associated Press, bigotry toward Asian Americans has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, including an increase in hate crimes, after the disease originated in the Wuhan province of China.
Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition of Asian American advocacy groups, issued a report in August indicating it received more than 2,500 reports of racism and discrimination toward Asian Americans nationwide since the group formed in March.
Out of the incidents that Stop AAPI Hate categorized, 70.6% involved verbal harassment/name-calling.
The coalition gathered data from 47 states and found that 46% of the incidents occurred in California.
