A suspect is in custody after a string of shootings at Atlanta-area massage parlors left eight people dead, six of them Asian women.
The first shooting happened just before 5 p.m. at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth, Georgia, a northern suburb of Atlanta.
Four people were killed, including two women of Asian descent, a white woman, and a white man, Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department said, according to Reuters. There was one surviving victim, who Baker described as an Hispanic man.
Half an hour later, Atlanta Police got a call of a “robbery in progress” at Gold Spa beauty salon, and found three women shot dead, Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant told reporters, according to Reuters.
While investigating the shooting, police received a call for another shooting at a spa across the street, Aroma Therapy Spa, where another woman was found dead from a gunshot wound. All four women found dead at the two Atlanta spas were of Asian descent, according to Bryant.
Authorities quickly theorized that a single suspect was responsible for the three shootings. The same vehicle was seen on video at all three crime scenes, making it “extremely likely” that the shootings involved the same suspect, Atlanta Police said in a statement.
Photos of the suspect and his vehicle were released in a bulletin, and around 8 p.m., officials in Crisp County, Georgia, received information that the suspect was heading towards their area, driving south on I-75, Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock said on Facebook Tuesday night.
Hancock said a state trooper performed a maneuver that caused the suspect’s SUV to spin out of control. Robert Aaron Long, 21, was subsequently arrested without incident and charged with murder, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Since Long’s arrest, The Daily Beast spoke to an anonymous source who said they went to high school with the suspect. The source described Long as “sorta nerdy” and “big into religion.”
“He was very innocent seeming and wouldn’t even cuss. He was sorta nerdy and didn’t seem violent from what I remember,” the former classmate told The Daily Beast. “He was a hunter and his father was a youth minister or pastor. He was big into religion.”
Mary Morgan, an 88-year-old woman who lives down the street from the Long family in Woodstock, told The Washington Post that “they come across as a good Christian family.”
The Daily Beast also found an Instagram account which they believe belongs to Long, in which he talks about his love for “guns and God.”
“Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life,” the Instagram bio said. “It’s a pretty good life.”
While investigators haven’t discussed a possible motive yet, the fact that six of the eight victims were Asian women is raising questions about whether the attacks were racially motivated. According to 11Alive, investigators are exploring that possibility.
The attacks have sent shockwaves across the US. In New York City, police deployed counterterrorism officers to Asian communities, Pix11 News reported. The Seattle Police Department is also stepping up patrols in the city’s Asian communities.
Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia said on Twitter that his family was praying for the victims “of these horrific acts of violence.”
“We deeply appreciate the quick apprehension of a suspect by the Georgia Department of Public Safety in coordination with local and federal law enforcement,” Kemp said.
Sen. Raphael Warnock also tweeted: “My heart is broken tonight after the tragic violence in Atlanta that took eight lives. Once again, we see that hate is deadly. Praying for the families of the victims and for peace for the community.”
Read the original article on Insider
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/8-dead-3-deadly-spa-012552565.html
Well, how simply amazing!!! Another “right – wing, domestic terrorist” with three names just happens to shoot up Atlanta when the communists in congress are proposing more illegal gun laws.
yup, the coincidence is amazing