USA TODAY International Edition
Unraveling the motives of a violent rampage
ATLANTA – Authorities on Wednesday said a gunman suspected of killing eight people, six of whom were Asian women, at three spas may have frequented the businesses but that it was too early to determine if the shootings would be considered a hate crime.
At least four of the victims of the Atlanta- area spas shootings were women of Korean descent, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Two others were of Asian descent, police said.
Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said it was too soon in the investigation to say whether the shootings were a hate crime. “We are just not there as of yet,” Bryant said in a news conference early Wednesday.
The suspect, 21- year- old Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, Georgia, was charged with eight counts of murder Wednesday in all three shootings. Four of the counts against Long are related to shootings at two spas in Atlanta. The other four are related to shootings at a spa in Cherokee County.
Long has not been charged with a hate crime, a specific charge that authorities must prove a crime was committed on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, disability or sexual orien
tation. He purchased a firearm Tuesday – the day of the attacks – from Big Woods Goods, a sporting good story in Cherokee County. Matt Kilgo, the shop’s attorney, said his clients are “fully cooperating” with police. “Everything they have will be turned over,” Kilgo said.
Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said Wednesday that Long told authorities that his actions were not racially motivated and that he had a sex addiction.
“These locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something that he shouldn’t be doing,” Cherokee County sheriff ’ s Capt. Jay Baker said. “He was attempting to take out that temptation.”
All three spas are listed on Rubmaps. ch, an erotic review site that allows users to search for and review illicit massage parlors. The site is the most popular of its kind, where buyers looking for sex go to find and share information, according to a study by Polaris, a nonprofit group that operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Long’s motivations are still being investigated, and a criminal record wasn’t immediately found. In 2019, Long’s parents reported him missing when the then- 19- year- old ran off with his girlfriend. “Their son sent them a text stating he was not returning home and wanted a fresh start,” the report says.
Authorities note in the 2019 report that his parents said Long was “not suicidal, did not take any medication, and had no mental illnesses.”
Baker said that Long indicated he intended to travel to Florida to carry out similar acts at “some type of porn industry” there. A 9mm firearm was recovered from the suspect’s car when he was arrested, Baker said.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said the spas in Atlanta were not on police’s radar: “As far as we know in Atlanta, these are legally operating businesses.”
She acknowledged that the shootings are the latest incident in a string of violence nationwide against Asian Americans amid the COVID- 19 pandemic. “This is an issue that is happening across the country. It is unacceptable. It is hateful. It has to stop,” Lance Bottoms said.
In Cherokee County, the victims were identified as Delaina Ashley Yuan, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta; Xiaojie Yan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44.
Four others were killed at the two Atlanta spas, but police have not yet identified them.
Stop AAPI Hate, a group that tracks incidents of discrimination and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, called the incident an “unspeakable tragedy.”
“This latest attack will only exacerbate the fear and pain that the Asian American community continues to endure,” the group said.
The shootings first unfolded Tuesday evening in Acworth, about 30 miles north of Atlanta. Baker said five people were shot at Young’s Asian Massage Parlor. Two people were found dead on the scene. Three victims were taken to a hospital where two later died.
About an hour after the shooting in Acworth, Atlanta police responded to a report of a robbery at Gold Spa in northeast Atlanta. Three women were found dead there, Atlanta Police Sgt. John Chafee said. While police were responding, there was a report of shots fired across the street at Aromatherapy Spa where they found one woman dead, Chafee said.
Shortly after the first shooting, Cherokee County sheriff ’ s officials released photos of the suspect, Reynolds said. Long’s family immediately contacted the department and helped authorities in tracking him.
Reynolds said authorities anticipated the suspect’s next moves and called sheriff ’ s officials in Crisp County, who worked with Georgia State Patrol to stop Long. Long is to be arraigned Thursday morning, Reynolds added.
Young’s Asian Massage, the scene of the first attack, is on a strip mall with five other shops, settled between a salon and a boutique. The strip is on a busy road lined with similar strip malls.
A smoke shop, record store, and tool shop sit farther down the strip, with a vacant shop in between Smoke South and RetroSound Records.
Rita Barron, owner of Gabby’s Boutique, sits next door to the parlor and described the owners and employees as hardworking.
Barron was in the shop with her husband and customers the night of the shooting. One of the bullets was shot through the shared wall.
She said her husband noticed the suspect had been sitting in his vehicle outside the parlor for about an hour before the attack.
Barron saw workers run out of the store, so she sent her husband to investigate. When he discovered what happened, they called 911. She said they were not the first to call 911, and police showed up shortly after.
“I feel confused,” she said, adding that she’d never heard gunshots before and wondered what the noises were. She said the owner and employees are “very, very hard workers” who open early and stay late in the evening.
Barron said she knew several of the victims. Aside from the workers, one of those shot was a customer of hers who was in critical condition, she said. Another is a waitress at a nearby Waffle House. She was killed.
Barron said she has been in contact with the wife of the man who is in critical condition. His wife told Barron that they were asking for prayers for him.
The two spas in Atlanta, Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa, are two of several neighborhood businesses that are frequented during late nights.
Mallory Rahman and her 4- year- old daughter, Zara, left flowers on the steps of Gold Spa in Atlanta to pay respects to the young women who were murdered there the night before.
“I told her that some people were hurt here that should not have been hurt. Some people were hurt by a bad person,” Rahman said. “I know she’s young, but I also want to teach her from a young age.”
She said her family lives walking distance from the two spas on Piedmont Road, the site of the shootings. While she has not supported the spas as a customer, she is sickened by the events.
“My mom is in town from out of state and we just cried. It’s just terrible,” Rahman said.
Nearby Aromatherapy Spa, Craig Barnes owns G Salon, a day spa he opened in this Piedmont Heights neighborhood in 1999.
The spas and strip clubs that share the Atlanta thoroughfare with Barnes were here when he arrived more than two decades ago, he said. The immediate area includes a Mexican restaurant and pizzeria, auto repair shops, medical offices, a psychic and apartment lofts.
Tuesday’s shooting occurred during evening rush hour in Atlanta. Barnes was at his salon. One of his customers called from across the street to cancel an appointment. She couldn’t make it, she told him.
Barnes told her not to worry. His team members would wait for her, not realizing the streets were blocked off.
“No, you don’t understand,” the customer told Barnes. “Look out your door.”