Three things for March 18
1. Atlanta shooting kills 8 people
On Tuesday night, a man killed eight people at three different massage parlors in Atlanta. Now facing four counts of murder and one count of assault, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long is also being investigated for a hate crime.
Long told police his attack was not racially motivated. Long claims to have a “sex addiction,” and authorities said he lashed out at what he saw as sources of temptation. Six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent.
The shootings appear to be at the “intersection of gender-based violence, misogyny and xenophobia,” said State Rep. Bee Nguyen.
The attacks began around 5 p.m. when five people were shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlor in a strip mall near a rural area in Acworth, reports AP News.
Around 5:50 p.m., police in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, responding to a call of a robbery in progress, found three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds at Gold Spa. Police learned of shots fired at the spa across the street, Aromatherapy Spa, and found another woman shot dead inside.
2. South hit by severe weather threats
The threat of severe weather swept the South Wednesday night as millions braced for an inclement forecast. As the front progressed further into the night, the potential to see weather ranging from tornados to large hail and damaging winds loomed.
More than 40,000 homes and businesses were left without power in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi after waves of tornadoes caused destruction throughout the night.
While an official count is yet to be released, there were reports of more than 20 tornadoes and damages to dozens of homes, according to the Weather Channel.
According to USA Today, large drive-thru vaccination clinics were shut down in the region, and several schools were forced to close their doors and turn to virtual learning.
3. Italy honors COVID-19 deaths on anniversary
On Thursday, Italy inaugurated a living monument to its COVID-19 dead. Today marks the anniversary of one of the most haunting moments of the pandemic: when Bergamo’s death toll reached such heights that an army convoy had to transport coffins out because its cemeteries and crematoriums were full, reports AP News.
Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi laid a wreath at Bergamo’s cemetery and inaugurated a forest named in honor of the more than 100,000 victims in Italy, the first country in the West hit by the outbreak.
Flags flew at half-staff around the country, and public authorities observed a minute of silence.
At the Wood of Memory, Bergamo Mayor Giorgio Gori said the city decided against a memorial or piece of artwork to commemorate its dead.
“We decided to honor victims with a work that is alive, with a monument that breathes,” Gori said.
