If authorities believe that Long killed the people because he hates Asians, he could be charged with a hate crime, which means he would spend more time in prison. Georgia passed a hate crime bill in 2020 after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The United States has had many more crimes against Asians than usual since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019. After the spa shootings, many Asian Americans held up signs and posted on the Internet "Stop Asian Hate."