“U.S. investigative authorities have difficulty securing evidence for hate crimes of Atlanta shooters”

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The Associated Press reported on the 20th (local time) that US investigative authorities have not yet obtained evidence to apply hate crime charges to Atlanta shooters.

The AP cited two legal officials, explaining that federal investigators have yet to find the evidence they need to apply hate crime charges to Atlanta shooters who killed eight people on the 16th.

The investigators did not completely rule out the prosecution for hate crimes, and the situation faced legal restrictions, the AP said.

Federal law requires prosecutors to determine that hate crimes have been targeted because of certain factors, such as race, gender, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, or that the suspect violated an act guaranteed by the Constitution or federal law.

Usually, prosecutors pursue clear evidence, such as text messages, online postings, and testimony that reveal the suspect’s racial discrimination, to make sure they are prosecuted for hate crimes.

However, according to officials who requested anonymity, the AP explained that no such evidence has been revealed for the Atlanta shooter Robert Aaron Long, 21, as of the 19th, the third day of the incident.

However, even if the shooter did not specify the target, there is an opinion that the shooter may have committed the crime with a bias against them, as 6 out of the 8 dead were of Asian origin.

In connection with the case, federal and local investigative authorities are looking into a variety of possibilities, including hate crimes, over the motives of the crime.

In the U.S. criminal justice system, most crimes are handled by local prosecutors after an investigation by the police or the like.

However, federal authorities can also engage in violations of federal laws, interstate violence or economic crimes, the AP said.

These include civil rights crimes targeting federal protection, including areas such as race, place of origin, and religion, as well as felony firearms.

Georgian authorities said investigations are still underway and that all options are being discussed, including applying state-level hate crime charges, the AP said.

Georgia last year enacted a law punishing hate crimes.

Immediately after the incident, the police, who showed an attitude that seemed to be distancing from the application of the hate crime charges by revealing the remarks of the shooter’s’sex addiction’, opened up the possibility of prosecuting hate crimes due to public opinion of’covering the suspect’.

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