By Emily Dietzmann
With the recent shooting and murder of 10 African Americans in Buffalo, NY last week and several shootings of Blacks and Asians in Dallas, some are saying that racially-motivated murders must be identified and prosecuted quickly.
The 18-year-old shooter in Buffalo who has been apprehended, travelled from hours away live streamed the event as he walked through the parking lot and into the Top’s Friendly Market supermarket, opening fire, said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, at a press conference following the event. The suspect was fully armed in tactical gear.
“This was pure evil,” said Erie County Sheriff John Garcia. “It was a straight-up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community, outside of the city of good neighbors as the mayor said coming into our community and trying to inflict that evil upon us.”
In Dallas, there are several shootings under investigation and on Friday Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia announced the investigation of potential hate crimes in the city where Asian businesses have been attacked, including a beauty supply store and a salon.
Wounded salon owner Chang Hye Jin said she viewed the shooting as a hate crime because the shooter never demanded anything, just began shooting.
Calling attention to recent attacks on citizens in the Asian American community, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson shared comments, adding that “Hate has no place in our city.”
“The possibility that we are dealing with a violent gunman who is motivated by hate is chilling and deeply disturbing. I am grateful to Police Chief Eddie Garcia and the Dallas Police Department for their work investigating these cases”, said Mayor Johnson. “I encourage anyone with any information on these crimes to contact the Dallas Police Department immediately and to work with us to stop these senseless acts of violence.”
There were also two mass shootings at gatherings of large groups of predominantly African Americans, that have gone unsolved last month where a person was killed and almost a dozen injured at one concert and at another event a person was killed and 17 injured.
The Mayor’s Anti-Hate Advisory Council released a statement: “We offer our unwavering support to all the individuals impacted by this act of hate and stand in solidarity with the Asian American community. We will continue to work alongside Mayor Eric Johnson, the Dallas Police Department, the FBI, and neighboring law enforcement agencies to hold anyone associated with these acts accountable. We must work together to eradicate hate from our community.”
“This is the worst nightmare that any community can face,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. “And we are hurting and we are seething right now as a community.”
