8 dead in Atlanta area massage parlors shootings

Post Reply New Topic

Authorities in metro Atlanta are investigating whether shootings at three massage parlors that left eight people dead and one wounded are connected.

Two of the shootings were at spas across the street from each other in northeast Atlanta and the other was in Cherokee County to the northwest of the city.

Officials in each jurisdiction said there were no immediate indications of motive and it is unclear whether the shootings were related.

A suspect in the Cherokee County shootings was taken into custody in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta, around 8:30 p.m. -- about 3 1/2 hours after the killings. The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office identified him as Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock.

Deputies were called to Young's Asian Massage near Acworth, Georgia, for reports of a shooting, Cherokee County Sheriff's spokesperson Jay Baker said.

Responding deputies found five people with gunshot wounds. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene and three were transported to a hospital, where two died, Baker said.

The massage parlor is about 30 miles from the sites of the Atlanta shootings, which took place about an hour later.

The four victims were female and appear to be Asian, Bryant said, adding it was too early to say what their connection was to the spas.

The FBI is "assisting the local investigations" into shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors that left eight people dead Tuesday evening, the agency said early Wednesday

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that President Joe Biden had been briefed "overnight about the horrific shootings in Atlanta."

"White House officials have been in touch with the mayor’s office and will remain in touch with the FBI," Psaki said.

South Korea’s foreign ministry told NBC News that four of the women who died were of Korean origin, but their nationalities have yet to be verified.

"We are in the very early stages of this," Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said.

A man suspected of killing eight people at three Atlanta-area spas was headed to Florida "perhaps to carry out additional shootings" when he was arrested Tuesday night, Atlanta's mayor said Wednesday, citing investigators.

And preliminary information indicates that the killings -- of six Asian people and two White people -- may not have been a hate crime, but instead may have something to do with the suspect's claim of a potential sex addiction, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said at the joint news conference.

Long indicated to investigators he believed he had a sex addiction and an "issue with porn," and claimed to see the spas as "a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate," Cherokee County sheriff's Capt. Jay Baker said at Wednesday's news conference.

Long "may have frequented some of these (spas) in the past," Reynolds said.


Around 8:30 p.m., the highway patrol about 150 miles south of the city was alerted that a suspect in the Cherokee County shooting was heading its way, Reynolds said in a video on the Crisp County Sheriff's Department Facebook page.

After Long's vehicle was spotted, a chase ensued on Interstate 75 and a state trooper performed a maneuver that sent the SUV out of control, authorities said.

"The suspect was taken into custody without incident ... and transported to the Crisp County jail," the official said.
Police believe Long is also responsible for the shootings in Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Department said.
"Video footage ... places the Cherokee County suspect's vehicle in the area, around the time of our Piedmont Road shootings," Atlanta police said in a news release. "That, along with video evidence viewed by investigators, suggests it is extremely likely our suspect is the same as Cherokee County's, who is in custody.

In Seattle, officials increased outreach to community-based organizations and added an increased presence of police patrols, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan and Chief of Police Adrian Diaz said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in South Korea's capital to meet with the nation's foreign minister, mentioned the attacks in opening remarks Wednesday.

In New York, the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau said on Twitter it will also deploy additional officers to protect Asian communities in the city "out of an abundance of caution."

Because women were targeted it is not a hate crime?

Because women were targeted it is not a hate crime?

Cherokee County Capt. Jay Baker added that Long “did take responsibility for the shootings,” indicating to police that he was “pretty fed up” and “at the end of his rope” at the time of the rampage.

Long told police he blamed the massage establishments for his addiction.

“It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” Baker added.

Long “pretty much grew up” in the Crabapple First Baptist Church in Milton, a fellow member who left the church in 2014 told The Daily Beast.

“It was your typical evangelical Baptist church but they do push the narrative hard that if you watch porn, if you’re doing sexual things, you’re going to hell,” the ex-member said. “They really do drive that home.”

It means he's so immersed in the toxic mindset that evangelicals have towards sex that he blamed sex trade workers for his unhealthy relationship with sexuality...

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said, "Long confessed to the shootings in Cherokee County and Atlanta."

"Long told investigators that he blames the massage parlors for providing an outlet for his addiction to sex," the sheriff's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

He may have "frequented these places in the past," Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said.

It means he's so immersed in the toxic mindset that evangelicals have towards sex that he blamed sex trade workers for his unhealthy relationship

So, another American white male christian murderous terrorist.

According to CBS News, the suspect told investigators that "he loved God and guns".

No evidence he is an evangelical.

What this has resemblance to is incel mentality.