![The scene of a protest against Asian prejudice and hate held in Chinatown in Seattle, Washington on the 13th. [AFP=연합뉴스]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/202103/19/b80dedce-a128-47e0-adcb-447d3743a435.jpg?w=560&ssl=1)
The scene of a protest against Asian prejudice and hate held in Chinatown in Seattle, Washington on the 13th. [AFP=연합뉴스]
On the 19th (local time), a shooting took place at a spa in Seattle, Washington, USA. It’s been three days after a series of shootings at three massage firms in Atlanta, Georgia.
However, the local police drew a line that the incident was a simple robbery and was not related to the shooting in Atlanta.
According to local media such as the Washington Post (WP), the incident took place at the South Bay Massage & Spa, a massage company in King County, south of Seattle, after 1 am on the day.
According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, two black men and Hispanic men entered the establishment and shot them. In this incident, an Asian man was injured and taken to a hospital, police said. Police are chasing suspects who have fled from the scene.
King County Sheriff’s Office said, “At this point, all the evidence looks like a robber with no other motivation,” he said.
In Seattle, he stressed that reports of threats or attacks against Asian Americans have not increased since the Atlanta shootings.
The mayor of Seattle and the chief of police also issued a statement earlier this week urging local residents to “fight against prejudice against Asians,” and announced that they will actively contribute to the campaign against’hate crimes’.
However, Asian Americans living in the region claim that bullying and violence have increased as much as elsewhere in the United States over the past year.
In particular, as eight people, including four Koreans, were killed in the Atlanta shootings on the 16th, concerns about hate crimes are growing.
On that day, protests were held to condemn hate crimes in major cities such as Washington, DC, New York, and Philadelphia, as well as near the Atlanta crime scene. On social media, the’Stop Asian hate’ hashtag campaign to stop hating Asians is also spreading.
The U.S. House of Representatives also held a hearing focusing on violence against Asian Americans, expanding the hate crime issue to the politics.
Reporter Lee Min-jung [email protected]
