Atlanta spa shootings

On March 16, 2021, three shootings occurred at massage parlors in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. The perpetrator, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, shot and killed eight people and injured one at the three separate spas. He was arrested shortly afterwards where he confessed to the shooting.

## Atlanta spa shootings

### Location

Young's Asian Massage, Acworth, Georgia, United States
Gold Massage Spa, Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Aromatherapy Spa, Atlanta, Georgia, United States

## Shootings

Surveillance footage showed the shooter, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, arriving at the Young's Asian Massage parlor in Acworth, and sitting for an hour in the parking lot before entering the building at about 3:38 p.m. for a period of one hour and 12 minutes. Long left the building at 4:50 P.M., and the first 9-1-1 calls reporting the shooting to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office were made at 4:54 P.M. Police arrived within minutes of Long leaving; there they found two people fatally shot and three others wounded with two of the wounded later dying at a hospital. Minutes later, at approximately 5:47 P.M., officers responded to reports of a robbery at the Gold Massage Spa, about thirty miles away from the first location. There, three more dead women were discovered. Officers then received more reports of another shooting happening across the street at the Aromatherapy Spa; another female corpse was found. According to an eyewitness interviewed by the *Korea Daily*, the suspect shot the worker who opened the door of the massage parlor for him and fled without entering the interior.

Around three and a half hours later, 8:30 P.M., Long was spotted by Georgia State Patrol officers in Crispy County. The officers followed Long until they finally stopped him just south of Cordele before arresting him.

## Victims

In total, there were eight killed, six of them Asian women with the other two being a white man and woman. The victims' identities of the Acworth shooting were released on March 17, with the rest being revealed on March 19:

* Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33
* Daoyou Feng, 44
* Xiaojie Tan, 49
* Hyun Grant, 51
* Paul Andre Michels, 54
* Yong Yue, 63
* Suncha Kim, 69
* Soon Park, 74

Only one person was injured, 30-year-old Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, a mechanic who owns a repair shop. He was shot in the forehead at Young's Massage, with the bullet travelling down his torso through his lung and into his stomach. He has been moved to the intensive care unit.

## Perpetrator

Robert Aaron Long, 21, was, since high school, very "into religion". He attended the Crabapple First Baptist Church regularly on Sundays and attended weekly services. Long bought a gun hours before the shooting at a Big Woods Goods store in Holly Springs, Georgia; he was originally arrested in connection only to the Young's Asian Massage shooting but authorities later determined he was also responsible for the other two shootings. Long has stated the attack was based off of his sexual addiction and targeted the massage parlors in an attempt to "eliminate the temptation". Long is being charged with four counts of murder by Atlanta police and four counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault by Cherokee County Sheriff's office.

## Reactions

Initial claims were made by many on social media, including politicians, that the attack was racially motivated and apart of the increasing hate crimes against Asians. Atlanta Mayor, Keisha Bottoms, has stated that it would be appropriate for Long to be charged with a hate crime, with politician Andrew Yang echoing her statements. Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp, expressed on Twitter his condolences towards the victims as well as applauding the authorities quick capture of Long. He also stated that there were indicators of this being an Asian hate crime but that he would wait for the investigators to collect all the facts before giving his thoughts. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris condemned hate crimes against Asian Americans but President Biden also said that he would wait for the investigation before commenting on Long's motives.