Spa shooting suspect’s parents helped authorities

ATLANTA — Once Cherokee County deputies received a surveillance capture of Robert Aaron Long leaving Young’s Asian Massage near Acworth Tuesday afternoon, the trail of the suspected killer grew red hot.

Long’s parents contacted the Cherokee sheriff’s office to identify their son. They also informed deputies that a tracking device could lead authorities to his vehicle, a Hyundai Tucson. Cherokee sheriff’s spokesman Jay Baker said he didn’t know why Long was being tracked, or if he was aware of it.

They do know that, without the GPS tracker, and his parents’ cooperation, Long, accused of fatally shooting eight people Tuesday at three metro Atlanta massage parlors, would not have been apprehended so quickly, Baker said. Long was captured in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta, en route to Florida, “perhaps to carry out additional shootings,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a news conference Wednesday.

“This could’ve been significantly worse,” Bottoms said. “It’s very likely there would’ve been more victims.”

Long, 21, told police he battled a sexual addiction and frequented the three parlors where the victims, all but two Asian women, were shot and killed. Baker said investigators do not believe Long was driven by racial animus.

Baker said Long viewed Florida as a hub for the porn industry and “an outlet for something he shouldn’t be doing,” Baker said. The Atlanta-area spas were “temptations to him he wanted to eliminate,” said Baker.

As Cherokee deputies were meeting with Long’s parents, Atlanta police were responding to a robbery call at Gold’s Spa on Piedmont Road. They arrived to find three dead bodies at Gold’s and another across the street, at Aromatherapy Spa. Atlanta police were able to use video footage to identify Long’s car parked outside both locations at the time of the shootings.

Long was heading south at this time. The Georgia State Patrol and Crisp County Sheriff Bill Hancock, contacted by Cherokee Sheriff Frank Reynolds, were waiting for him.

Around 8:30 p.m., troopers and Crisp deputies spotted Long’s dark-colored Hyundai heading south on I-75 near Cordele. After a short chase, troopers performed a PIT maneuver, in which they force a fleeing car to turn sideways abruptly, causing the driver to lose control and stop. Long was arrested without incident.