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Atlanta police considering if spa shooting was a hate crime

Robert Aaron Long, 21, is believed to have visited the parlours where 4 Asian women were killed
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A police officer watches as a body is taken from the Gold Spa massage parlor after a shooting, late Tuesday, March 16, 2021, in Atlanta. Shootings at two massage parlors in Atlanta and one in the suburbs left multiple people dead, many of them women of Asian descent, authorities said. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Atlanta police say “nothing is off the table” in their investigation into the recent massage parlour slayings, including whether the killings were a hate crime.

Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said during a news conference Thursday that investigators believe 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long had visited the two Atlanta massage parlours where four women of Asian descent were killed.

“Our investigation is looking at everything so nothing is off the table for our investigation,” Hampton said.

Four other victims were killed at a spa in suburban Cherokee County shortly before the Atlanta attacks.

RELATED: Official who said spa shootings suspect had ‘bad day’ promoted anti-Asian shirt last year

The White House says President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris plan to meet with Asian American community leaders in Georgia in the wake of this week’s deadly shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlours.

The pair were already scheduled to travel Friday to Atlanta to tout the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, but the trip took on new meaning after the shootings.

The visit also comes amid intense debate over voter rights in Georgia.

Authorities have charged 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long with murder in the deaths of eight people, six of them women of Asian descent.

READ MORE: Atlanta-area shootings leave 8 dead, many of Asian descent