Officer who said shooter had a 'bad day' was selling a racist T-shirt blaming China for COVID-19

SCREEN CAPTURE / ABC

Captain Jay Baker had a controversial Facebook page that may reveal his beliefs.

Why do police find it so hard to label a racist attack a hate crime? The other question that might be asked: What do you do if the investigator of a hate attack harbors racist views, himself? 

The day following a shooting spree in Georgia that killed eight people -- six of them Asian American women -- Captain Jay Baker, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, said that the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, "was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope" and Tuesday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did."

At the Wednesday press conference about the shootings, Baker said it was too early to say if the suspect was motivated by race, but added that the suspect told officials he had sex addiction issues and targeted the businesses because he wanted to “take out that temptation.”

AAPI Twitter blew up. Baker's comments were insensitive to the victims and their families and seemed to brush off the deadly attacks on Asian Americans.

And ... now we know why Baker said what he said.

In a series of Facebook posts, Baker shared photos of T-shirts with the slogan, “Covid 19 IMPORTED VIRUS FROM CHY-NA.” “Love my shirt,” Baker wrote in one April 2020 post. “Get yours while they last.”

“Place your order while they last,” Baker wrote in another post in March 2020, alongside a smiley face emoji.

The Cherokee Sheriff's Office didn't respond to media requests about the Facebook post, which has been deleted.

And now, you know the rest of the story. Stay tuned.

Word of caution: This post has opinion weaved into it. The editor recommends that you should read several sources to form an opinion of their own.