Atlanta (US), Mar 17 (AP) The shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlours that killed eight is the sixth mass killing this year in the United States and the deadliest since the August 2019 Dayton, Ohio, killing that took nine lives.

That's according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.

The Tuesday shooting follows a lull during the pandemic in 2020 that had the smallest number mass killings in more than a decade. The database tracks mass killings defined as four or more dead, not including the shooter.

Officials said they're still investigating whether the Georgia killings were hate crimes amid concerns over a wave of attacks on Asian Americans.

Six of the victims were Asian and seven were women. Authorities said the the man accused in the shootings told police his act wasn't racially motivated and that he potentially had a “sex addiction.” (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)