A 21-year-old man allegedly killed eight people in three separate shootings, all of which took place at Atlanta-area spas on Tuesday evening.
Robert Long allegedly shot and killed at least four people, and injured one when he opened fire at Young’s Asian Massage Parlor around 5 p.m. About an hour later, police were dispatched to the Gold Spa and Aroma Therapy Spa, where four more dead victims were found. He was charged Wednesday with four counts of murder and one count of assault in the shooting, according to the Associated Press.
These spas are across the street from one another, just south of Interstate 85.
Seven of the victims were women.
Georgia state patrol troopers were notified that Long was heading in the direction of Crisp County, and they performed a “PIT maneuver,” which they said caused Long’s vehicle to “spin out of control.” He was taken into custody without incident.
Law enforcement officers retrieved a 9-millimeter gun in his car but have not yet determined if that weapon was used in the killing spree, according to a Wednesday press briefing. Long bought a firearm from Big Woods Goods in Holly Springs, Georgia, and the store is cooperating with law enforcement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
EIGHT DEAD IN SHOOTINGS AT THREE ATLANTA-AREA MASSAGE PARLORS
Long was allegedly on his way to Florida at the time he was apprehended, and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who also spoke during the briefing, said he might have been going to “carry out additional shootings.”
Six of the eight victims were of Asian origin, leading many to suspect a hate crime, as there has been an increase in hate crimes against the Asian American community since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but the alleged shooter denied that was his motivation.
Long, in his interrogation with police, claimed that his attack was not racially motivated, law enforcement announced in the briefing.
Long “did take responsibility for the shooting,” and the alleged perpetrator claimed to be a “sex addict,” said Capt. Jay Baker. Long allegedly called these parlors a “temptation” that he wanted to “eliminate.”
It’s unclear whether Baker had ever gone to any of these parlors, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms denied that these businesses were places where a sexual encounter could occur, police said.
“We are not about to get into victim blaming, victim shaming here,” she said. “As far as we know in Atlanta, we have not had any calls, 911 calls from that location. I believe one minor call on someone stealing some keys. So we don’t know additional information about what his motives were, but we certainly will not begin to blame victims. As far as we know in Atlanta, these are legally operating businesses that have not been on our radar, not on the radar of APD.”
The White House has been in touch with Lance Bottoms’s office and the FBI, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the shooting Wednesday before a virtual meeting with the Irish prime minister to mark St. Patrick’s Day.
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“The president and I and all of us we grieve for the loss. Our prayers are extended to the families of those who have been killed, and it speaks to a larger issue which is the issue of violence in our country, and what we must do to never tolerate it and to always speak out against it. We don’t yet know — we’re not yet clear about the motive — but I do want to say to our Asian-American community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged all people … but knowing the increasing level of hate crime against our Asian-American brothers and sisters, we also want to speak out in solidarity with them and acknowledge that none of us should ever be silent in the face of any form of hate.”
Hate crimes against Asian Americans spiked 150% throughout 2020, a year largely upended by the coronavirus pandemic, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found.
