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Georgia Shooting Rampage Amplifies Fear, Anger Among Asian Americans; Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) is Interviewed about Anti-Asian Violence; Sheriff: Shooting Suspect Claims Killings Not Racially Motivated. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired March 18, 2021 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect in the killing spree that left eight people dead at three different spas in the Atlanta area Tuesday felt tortured by sexual addiction.
[06:00:11]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six Asian-American women who were shot and killed yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Asian community has once again been targeted.
NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The country still averaging well over 50,000 new cases every day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we see a plateau like that, that predicts another surge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are vaccinating really well. That's the good news. These variants are spreading. That's the bad news.
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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Thursday, March 18, 6 a.m. here in New York. Alisyn off, Erica Hill with me again this morning.
Nice to see you.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Always good to be here.
BERMAN: We've got a lot going on. So this is what we know this morning. The Asian-American community in this country is on edge, understandably. The murder rampage in Georgia left eight people dead, six of them Asian women.
Anti-Asian hate crime up nearly 150 percent in major U.S. cities since the start of the pandemic. Now, the suspect in Georgia is claiming to law enforcement the
killings were not racially motivated but were the result of a sexual addiction. But there are new questions this morning about how certain officials are approaching this after a county sheriff said the suspected killer of eight people had a quote, "bad day."
HILL: A bad day. That's not only raising questions but, to be frank, there's a lot of outrage around those comments.
Overnight, crowds gathered in solidarity in Washington, D.C., calling for an end to white supremacy and anti-Asian hostilities. Memorials, meantime, honoring the victims have been set up outside of the three spas where the killings took place.
I want to begin our coverage this morning with CNN's Natasha Chen, who joins us from Cherokee County.
Natasha, good morning.
NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.
We're here in Cherokee County where the suspect is being held in custody, and it could be as early as today he could be arraigned.
Now, right now, the FBI is still investigating a motive here, but in the meantime, he's been charged with eight counts of murder across two counties.
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CHEN (voice-over): This morning, authorities are investigating why a suspected gunman killed eight people in three Atlanta area spas and whether the massacre that left six Asian women dead can be prosecuted as a hate crime.
The shootings started around 5 p.m. Tuesday at Young's Asian Massage in Cherokee County, Georgia, leaving four people dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please hurry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a description of him, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need to hide right now.
CHEN: That desperate 911 call came from Gold Massage Spa, about 30 miles from the first shooting. Police discovered three Asian women killed there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some guy came in and took the gun and shoots the gun. Some ladies got hurt, I think, and everybody is scared so they're hiding.
CHEN: Across the street at Aromatherapy Spa, another Asian woman killed.
Atlanta law enforcement is withholding the names of victims, but in Cherokee County, police confirmed the names of the people who lost their lives and the man who was injured.
Robert Aaron Long is now behind bars and charged with eight counts of murder.
CHIEF RODNEY BRYANT, ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Even though we have made an arrest, there's still a lot more work to be done.
CHEN: Authorities say Long told them the killings were because he had a potential sexual addiction.
SHERIFF FRANK REYNOLDS, CHEROKEE COUNTY, GEORGIA: The suspect did take responsibility for the shootings. This is still early, but he does claim that it was not racially motivated.
CHEN: But Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says it's hard to ignore that the majority of the shooting victims were Asian women.
MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA: I'm taking that with a grain of salt. This is a man who murdered eight people in cold blood, so it's very difficult to believe what he says.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an attack on all of us.
CHEN: Grief and outrage are growing over the rise in attacks against Asian-Americans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. At the White House, President Joe Biden condemned the acts of violence.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Very concerned, because as you know, I've been speaking about the brutality against Asian- Americans for the last couple months, and I think it -- it is very, very troubling.
CHEN: No matter the motive, Georgia state Representative Sam Park says the shooting is spreading fear not only here but in Asian-American communities across the country.
SAM PARK (D), GEORGIA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: There was an attack against Asian-American women, against, members of our community, and of course, we want to do everything that we can to protect everyone.
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CHEN: And there are a lot of questions right now on whether he could be charged with a hate crime in addition to the murder charges, especially because most of the victims are women and were specifically women of Asian descent.
Now, here in Georgia, the hate crime law includes the targeting of people not just based on race, national origin, religion, et cetera, but also based on one's sex. So a lot for investigators to go through -- Erica.
HILL: Absolutely. Natasha Chen, thank you.
[06:05:04] Joining me now, New York Congresswoman Grace Meng, who is taking part in a House hearing on discrimination and violence against Asian- Americans today. Last year, she sponsored a measure passed by the House condemning anti-Asian racism.
Good to have you with us this morning. You know, after passage of that resolution in the fall, your voicemail was filled up with racist, hate-filled messages. You shared those, and I want to play some of that for the viewers right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm calling about the Karate kid virus, the Kung Flu virus or the wherever it came from Asia. It's not racist. It's the truth. Filthy people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, you look like a Chinese virus, you fat slob, or maybe Kung Flu, you fat slob. Or maybe Wuhan. You look like a Wuhan, you fat, ugly, fat slob.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: They're disturbing, to say the least. They are unsettling, and unfortunately, they're not new, are they?
REP. GRACE MENG (D-NY): No, they're not new, and thank you, Erica, for having me in, for covering this issue.
Look, I have pretty thick skin. I can -- you know, it's OK that I got those voice mails, but I really do -- my heart goes out to so many families who are afraid to let their elderly parents and grandparents go outside to the supermarket for fear of being harassed. For the parents, some of who have been texting me saying they're not going to let their kids play outside anymore, because they don't want them to get bullied. I just feel so sorry for the Asian-American community.
HILL: You know, there has been an outpouring of support. I would say in the last year, but certainly in the last couple of weeks as we have given more and more necessary attention to these horrific acts of hate against the Asian community.
The numbers are really disturbing. So we know that anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S. in major cities are up nearly 150 percent. Despite being down overall, we're seeing that, especially here in New York City there's a lot of talk of that, I know. Stop AAPI Hate reporting nearly 3,800 hate crimes reported in about the last year.
But there's also a sense that, specifically when it comes to anti- Asian hate, that it's really underreported. You're trying to move past that and to encourage more people to speak out. Do you think it's working?
MENG: Well, definitely, and I'm really thankful for the allyship that has been shown and has been pouring out, especially in the last few days, from communities beyond the Asian-American community. We are so heartened by the encouragement and the show of solidarity. You're right, we are hearing more and more reports, and these
incidents, obviously, are not new in our history, but the number of incidents have really skyrocketed in the last 12 months or so.
We are pushing legislation. Our community is pushing two bills. One is the No Hate Act and the other bill is my bill with Senator Hirono, which would establish a point person at the Department of Justice to analyze and to focus on these hate crimes and to empower the community to make it easier for community members and victims to report these incidents.
HILL: Do you think incidents of anti-Asian hate that have been reported, that have been experienced, have been taken seriously enough?
MENG: Well, we also need to look at these incidents and crimes with a wider lens and a wider perspective. Just as with the case in Atlanta right now, we hope that law enforcement are doing due diligence. You know, looking at the history of the person. Looking at past emails and other people that they may have harassed, as well.
HILL: You know, speaking of that due diligence, a lot of reaction to what we heard from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and I want to pay -- play a moment -- This is F-6 for the folks in the control room -- and get your reaction to this.
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REYNOLDS: This is still early, but he does claim that it was not racially motivated. He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places and it's a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.
He understood the gravity of it, and he was pretty much fed up and at the end of his rope; and -- and yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did.
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HILL: Characterizing this as a really bad day for him and this is just what he did at the end of his rope, when you heard that, what did it say to you?
[06:10:04]
MENG: I hope that the sheriff, in his tone and in his words that he used, wasn't justifying his actions in any way.
This young man had enough intent to drive, I think, it was over 50 miles to target an Asian-owned business -- business where a majority of the employees were Asian-American. He had enough intent. And people don't get to do that if they're having a bad day, I'm sorry.
HILL: Representative Grace Meng, we appreciate you taking the time this morning. And we look forward to continuing the conversation. Thank you.
MENG: Thank you.
HILL: Just ahead, a brand-new interview with a Capitol Hill Police officer, a black Capitol Police officer, who defended the Capitol during the insurrection.
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HARRY DUNN, CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: We fought against not just people that were -- that hated what we represented, but they hated our skin color also.
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HILL: The racist abuse he says he experienced during that riot, next.
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BERMAN: The man accused of gunning down eight people in Georgia, six of them Asian women, he's expected in court today. The suspect told officials that he was not motivated by racial hate. This is what he told them. But authorities say the investigation is ongoing.
Now, the sheriff's deputy in Cherokee County is facing backlash for this description of the suspect's frame of mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REYNOLDS: He understood the gravity of it, and he was pretty much fed up and had been kind of at the end of his rope. And yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Really bad day for him. I want to bring in Cedric Alexander. He's the former public safety director for Dekalb County, Georgia.
Just a bad day. Why would a sheriff ever say that. I mean, what do those words say to you?
CEDRIC ALEXANDER, FORMER PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR FOR DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: Well, it doesn't say very much to me other than the fact he didn't maintain an objective position. I don't know why anyone at his stature or his position -- he sounds more like a defense attorney than he does a county sheriff.
But let me say this. To the people who lost their lives and their family and friends and the community, not just in and around metro Atlanta, but across this country are in a very, very horrible place in terms of fear, in terms of their safety and not feeling like, right at this particular moment, they're part of this America. And I think we all have a responsibility to choose our words very carefully and also to make sure that our own stuff doesn't get in the way, because we are still a nation of one. And we have a responsibility at this very point and moment in time to
be supportive of Asian-Americans who are really feeling threatened, even prior to this shooting and even more so now.
HILL: So important and so true, as you point out. As we look at what we do know, with the limited information we do have at this point, the fact that the suspect's parents, apparently, you know, saw this and -- and they essentially turned him, or they called and said, We think this may be our son, how does that help in an investigation?
ALEXANDER: Well, certainly it helps. It certainly expedited the investigation to be able to identify the subject and to be able to track his movements. And there was a lot of cooperation and coordination there in the metro area between police. And -- and we all are glad and -- and happy of the fact that they were able to apprehend him as quickly as they did. But it took a lot of coordination from those agencies in order to do so.
BERMAN: It also tells you something of maybe his frame of mind. If his parents -- you know, to get to seeing a picture to, Oh, my son may be a suspected mass shooter, tells you that there may have been concerns there beforehand, which that could also end up being part of the investigation as this moves forward.
Cedric, I want to ask you. You have an op-ed, which I think we're going to get to in a second. But it has to do -- Don Lemon did an interview last night with Harry Dunn, who is a Capitol Hill police officer in the Capitol insurrection who went into depth about what he faced on that day. Listen to this.
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DUNN: The black officers' struggle was different as in -- like I said, we fought against not just people that were -- that hated what we represented, but they hated our skin color also. That's just a fact. And they used those words to prove that. They showed that they hated us, and they hated our skin color.
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BERMAN: And your op-ed talks about this. You basically are trying to grab America by the lapels and say, Hey, you've got to pay attention to this.
ALEXANDER: Absolutely. And what the op-ed really suggests is that police is in this very peculiar place themselves, as police is going to have to decide whose side that they are on, because as you -- we all know from the January 6 episode, there were those who were part of the Capitol Police who appeared to be real sympathizers of that insurrection on that particular day. And it certainly was not a good day for police and what it represents overall in this country.
So here you have an African-American Capitol Hill police officer, who you can just look at from that interview and tell that he himself has been traumatized, not just from the fight that they had to have over a number of hours, but the name calling, the spitting on. Those who say that they support law and order, but police officers who were beaten with flags -- American flags, rebel flags, Nazi flags, Blue Lives Matter flags. And they came up under attack, all of them, black and white came up under attack.
[06:20:10]
But for officers of color, the African-American officers, those who had a dark hue in their skin, they suffered even worse attack, both verbally and physically because of the type of individuals and the ideology -- ideologies of those that were there on that scene that particular day.
So we're going to have to do better, because as police departments across this country, the greatest majority of men and women go out there and do it right. But for those who don't know what side they're on, they need to figure it out real fast.
HILL: They do. And I remember on that day, as you're following along on social media, there was so much reaction that said, This is not who we are.
And yet, I also saw a lot of, This is who we are, and it's time to address it.
Just curious. In the last two months since that insurrection, do you think there has been enough reflection on the fact that this is also a part of who we are as a country, and it has needed to be addressed for hundreds of years? Do you think it is starting?
ALEXANDER: Well, I think what's being revealed to us as a nation, to all of us, we have this responsibility that we can be better than what we are.
Yes, what you're seeing is who we really are. We don't need to minimize it. We don't need to excuse it. We need to confront it and deal with it. That's the only way we're going to move forward.
And we need to acknowledge the things that we could have done better as a nation so that we can continue to move forward.
We're still a very young nation. We're still a very young nation that had significant gains, and I don't want to minimize that. But we still see that, in our communities across this country, across this state, we've divided ourselves by democratic parties. There's research out there out there right now that suggests that we're more divided by being Democrats and Republicans than we are by race. That's scary. It's scary enough by race.
But we have to do better. We can do better, but we need to acknowledge we truly have to be one nation under God, because that's what's going to take -- that's what's going to take us where we need to go.
BERMAN: Cedric Alexander --
ALEXANDER: -- the separatists and what we're seeing, we can no longer do. Thanks, John. BERMAN: Cedric Alexander, as always, we appreciate you being with us.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts this morning.
ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me. Thank you.
BERMAN: So how common is it for someone who's already had coronavirus to get infected again? There's a really interesting brand-new study on this, next.
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[06:27:02]
HILL: This morning, 17 states are seeing a rise in new coronavirus cases. The orange and red states there on your map. Two of them, Alabama and Delaware, are that deep red. That means an increase of more than 50 percent in average new cases over the last week.
Officials at this point racing to vaccinate Americans as highly- contagious variants spread.
CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is live outside a mass vaccination site in Detroit this morning.
Adrienne, good morning.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erica, good morning to you.
Right now, cases of COVID in Michigan are rising faster than anywhere else in the nation. Jennifer Morris, a health official I spoke with, said she fears if this trend continues, Michigan could see a reversal in all of the progress they've made.
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BROADDUS (voice-over): A concerning rise in coronavirus cases as vaccination efforts nationwide are ramping up.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think that we are on the cusp of that fourth surge. We now have these more transmissible variants becoming dominant here in the U.S. very quickly.
BROADDUS: The United States is averaging at least 50,000 new cases per day. And 17 states reported an increase in new COVID cases compared to the week before. Michigan has seen nearly a 50 percent increase in new COVID cases since last week.
Dr. Jennifer Morris, medical director of Mid-Michigan District Health Department, contributes the spike to a list of factors, including COVID fatigue, rolling back restrictions, failure to wear masks, and the variant first identified in the U.K. Michigan has the second highest number of confirmed cases of the U.K. variant in the nation.
The state is opening a mass vaccination site at Ford Field next week.
In the northeast, concerns are mounting that a variant in New York City may cause another wave of cases. Case counts are up in several states in the region, including Delaware, where new cases are up more than 50 percent since last week.
This comes as Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey are increasing indoor restaurant capacity and easing COVID restrictions.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: My concern is that we prematurely pull back and don't give the vaccines time to continue to protect the country.
BROADDUS: And in California, Disneyland is set to reopen with limited capacity at the end of April. The announcement comes on the heels of the WHO designating two variants of interest detected in that state.
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We are in a race to stop transmission, and the emergence of variants that spread more easily has made that even more challenging.
BROADDUS: Meanwhile, more states are announcing plans to open up vaccine eligibility to all residents over the age of 16. According to the latest data, nearly one in eight people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We are vaccinating really fast now. We're averaging about 2 1/2 million shots per day; 113 million Americans.
