DA seeking death penalty for Atlanta spa shooter
The Fulton County District Attorney said Monday she is seeking the death penalty for a man accused of killing eight people at three Atlanta-area spas.
A hearing for Robert Aaron Long was postponed to Sept. 28, but prosecutors announced in a press conference afterwards they will also seek a hate crime enhancement for the crime that prosecutors said targeted Asian women.
“I want the Asian community to know — and all of the community — if you’re Hispanic, if you’re African American, if you’re a woman, if you’re poor, if you’re an educated, if you are very wealthy, if you are Caucasian, it does not matter,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said. “Lady Justice is finally blind. Every single person in this community has value and we will fight for them as hard as we would fight for any victim.”
Long is accused of killing four people at the Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa: 69-yearold Suncha Kim, 74-year-old Soon Chung Park, 51-yearold Hyun Jung Grant, and 63-year-old Yong Ae Yue.
All of the people killed in the Atlanta shooting, and two in Cherokee County, were women of Asian descent.
“I do have all the respect in the world for the DA down there in Cherokee County; however, let me say this — when you make decisions at the District Attorney’s Office, you do so based on the facts, based on the law, based on
your conscience and your life experiences,” Willis said. “This district attorney looked at the facts, looked at the law, sought guidance from her conscience probably some of which is based on life experience, I am very comfortable in my decision to request sentencing enhancement.”
District Attorney Shannon Wallace also initially sought a hate crime enhancement based on gender prejudice, though said she did not believe they would be able to prove the shootings were racially motivated in a trial.
Long pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life without parole in Cherokee County in July to killing 33-yearold Delaina Yaun-Gonzalez, 54-year-old Paul Andre Michels, 49 year-old Xiaojie Tan and 44-year-old Daoyou Feng.
Signed in 2020, Georgia’s hate crime law imposes “additional criminal sentencing guidelines on anyone who commits a “hate” crime intentionally based on race,
sex, sexual orientation, color, religion, national origin, mental disability, or physical disability.”
Long faces a total of 19 charges in Fulton County, including felony murder, aggravated assault, domestic terrorism and multiple counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The hearing was originally scheduled for Aug. 23, but was postponed to Aug. 30 after a defense attorney was exposed to COVID-19. Long briefly appeared in a Fulton County court room for the first time Monday.
By seeking the death penalty, Willis admitted coming to trial will be a protracted process.
She told reporters that death penalty cases could take 24 to 36 months to resolve.
“Seeking justice, sometimes it’s not swift and it takes a long time but we’re on that road,” Willis said at a press conference after the hearing.