Sheriff's spokesperson removed from Georgia shooting case

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Cherokee County Captain Jay Baker at a press conference.

The public information officer for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office that made inappropriate comments regarding the fatal shootings in the Atlanta area and linked to a controversial Facebook racist page has been removed from the case.

Cherokee County Communications Director Erika Neldner made the announcement  removing Captain Jay Baker from the case that took eight lives. Six of the slaying victims were Asian women. She said that he will be assuming those duties for this case.

During a Wednesday press conference discussing the investigation of the shooting and the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, Baker said Long was "pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope" and saying that Tuesday "was a really bad day for him and this is what he did."

Baker also said while the suspect told investigators that he was a "sex addict" and the killings were a way of stopping that behavior.

"In as much as his words were taken or construed as insensitive or inappropriate, they were not intended to disrespect any of the victims, the gravity of this tragedy or express empathy or sympathy for the suspect,” Sheriff Frank Reynolds said in the statement, noting Baker's remarks launched "much debate and anger."

“Captain Baker had a difficult task before him, and this was one of the hardest in his twenty-eight years in law enforcement."

No comment was made about the Facebook page apparently posted by Baker that was selling a T-shirt blaming "Chy-na" for COVID-19.

The shooting spree at three Asian-owned spas left eight dead in total: Xiaojie Tan, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Daoyou Feng, Julie Park, Park Hyeon Jeong, and two others whose names have not been released.

Authorities said although the slayings haven't been labeled a hate crime, they were still investigating the motivations of the gunman. Unlike most other states that have hate crime rules for years, Georgia's hate crime law was signed into law only a year ago.

“Beyond processing evidence from the scenes, investigators are taking a hard look at what motivated the shooter. Our investigation is far from over and we have not ruled anything out,” the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement Wednesday night.