“Covid 19 imported Chy-na virus,” says the racist t-shirt in the photo posted on April 2, 2020.
Although the account that posted it has been deleted, CNN was able to access the photos via a cached copy. The Facebook account name matches Jay Baker and states that the person is an employee of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
The Daily Beast was the first to report on the photo of the racist T-shirt. They also reported that the account posted photos of Baker in uniform, with his tag visible.
When CNN contacted about this post, Baker told CNN, “There are no additional comments.”
“Love my shirt,” reads the photo of the t-shirt. He continues to encourage others to buy their own t-shirts by saying, “Get yours while they last.” CNN contacted the store selling the T-shirts, but received no response immediately.
CNN also contacted Facebook to see if it was deleting the account or if it was the user who did it, but received no response.
This complaint comes as criticism of Baker’s description of the suspect’s actions of shooting at a spa at Robert Spa Long Tuesday continues to grow.
“He was pretty fed up and had been a little kind at the end of the rope,” Baker said at a news conference Wednesday. “Yesterday was a really bad day for him, and that’s what he did.”