authorities say they are not ruling out that this was possibly a hate crime. president biden has ordered all federal flags to be flown at half staff in honor of the victims, and he will head to georgia tomorrow. and as the president said, as vice president harris said, as atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms said, whatever the motivation here, the fact is attacks on asian americans are on the rise. people are rightfully scared and we need to do more to combat that bigotry and violence and stand together. to that point, today in congress a house committee held its first hearing on the rise of anti-asian discrimination in more than 30 years. but things quickly took a turn when republican congressman chip roy of texas first said that all americans deserve protection and to live in a free and secure society. then he said some more things, and i want to warn you, some of this language is offensive. we re only going to play it once, and we re going to play it once because it not
atlanta metro area, all three locations are massage parlors. a suspected shooter first entered a business called young s asian massage parlor in cherokee county, 45 minutes outside of atlanta. police say the shooter at that location spot and killed three people there at that massage parlor and injured two others. then in a different location, less than an hour later, four more people shot and killed at two additional massage parlors in atlanta. again, so this is metro atlanta, cherokee county, and atlanta proper. now, officials have not said whether they think these shootings at three places were connected, but police did note tonight that the shootings took place at three spas, three massage parlors, where the majority of the employees are asian. police say all four victims who were shot and killed at the second and third locations appeared to be asian women. now, police say they have not yet identified a suspect or a motive. but again, nbc s affiliate in atlanta is confirmi
today, police departments across this country are taking steps to make sure the asian communities remain safe. it s a busy hour on the hill. the government s top doctors are making a house call. they are testifying as we speak. in a few moments, the cdc director s stark warning about one of the covid variants ripping across the country. right now, the secretary of homeland security is testifying before a house committee. his message so far about the increase of migrants crossing our southern border. all of that coming up. we start with that breaking news there in atlanta. police say the suspect, 21-year-old robert long, is likely behind all three shootings in and around atlanta. georgia state troopers arrested long tuesday night driving 125 miles south of atlanta. officials say it appears he was going to florida. reporters and analysts with us now. blayne alexander has been on the ground in atlanta. she has the latest on the shootings. tom winter following the investigati
motive. i know that many have received a number of calls about, is this a hate crime. we re still early in this investigation, so we cannot make that determination at this moment. again, we are very early in this investigation. even though we have made an arrest, there is still a lot more work to be done. he made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction, and may have frequented some of these places in the past. he claims that these as the chief said, it s still early, but he does claim 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. to be clear, that is what the suspect is telling police. there is still a lot that we do not know. atlanta s lance bottoms provided a little more detail that plils police have determined he was on his way to florida when he was captu
administration s week-long tour. but the focus today on aide for small businesses. in a few hours president biden takes his message to pennsylvania s delaware county. we have not had great vaccine distribution in delaware county and i m sure he will also those questions for all of the people. multiple headlines out for the coronavirus pandemic. moderna saying they started vaccine trials for children. one vaccine is ramping up and another is under the micro scope. they say there is no indication that vaccination has caused blood clots. it comes after 13 european countries stop the use of the vaccine. join me to hear what that means for the global vaccine rollout. carol, good morning what can we expect to hear from the president later this afternoon. this is the president s first stop. and administration officials are trying to sell this $1.9 trillion bill. from philadelphia where i am and going to a small business. there is provisions for small businesses and there is so