8 dead in series of Atlanta-area massage parlors shootings, suspect arrested
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A man captured in Georgia on Tuesday night is suspected in three shootings at Atlanta-area massage parlors or spas that killed eight people, officials said.
Four people were killed in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta, around 5 p.m., and four women died in two shootings in Atlanta less than an hour later, authorities said. The four killed in Atlanta appeared to be Asian women, as were two of the victims in the Acworth community of Cherokee County, officials said.
The Cherokee Sheriff's Office did not provide additional details or identifying information about the other victims.
Officials have not disclosed a suspected motive.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, was arrested, Cherokee County sheriff's Capt. Jay Baker said.
Atlanta police said Tuesday night that the suspect in the city's two shootings is likely the same as Cherokee County's and that an investigator was working to confirm that the cases are related.
Cherokee County deputies discovered two people dead and three others wounded at the massage parlor in the Acworth community, Baker said. The injured were taken to a hospital, where two of them later died, he said.
Law enforcement officials confer outside a massage parlor following a shooting, in Atlanta, on March 16, 2021.Brynn Anderson / AP
About 45 minutes later and 30 miles away, police in Atlanta responded to a report of a robbery on Piedmont Road in the northeast part of the city.
Officials discovered three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds, and while on scene, received a call of shots fired across the street, where a woman was found dead inside that business, Atlanta police said.
Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant described one location as a spa, and another as an aromatherapy spa.
After the Cherokee County shooting, the sheriff's office released photos of a suspect.
Long, who lives in an unincorporated part of Cherokee County, was arrested in Crisp County, which is about 125 miles south of Atlanta, officials said.
The suspect vehicle was spotted southbound on I-75, and a Georgia State Patrol trooper used a PIT maneuver, which is a move in which a police vehicle is used to physically stop another vehicle, the Crisp County Sheriff's Office said.
Bryant, the Atlanta police chief, said that police were reviewing video. He said earlier Tuesday it was too soon to know what motivated the killings.
"We are in the very early stages of this," Bryant said.
While a motive has not been disclosed if one is known, because the shootings were all at massage parlors and spas, Atlanta police said officers were dispatched to similar businesses, and that patrols were increased.
In New York City, police were deploying counterterrorism officers to Asian communities out of an abundance of caution, a department spokesperson said.
"Our entire family is praying for the victims of these horrific acts of violence," Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted, adding his appreciation for the quick apprehension by law enforcement.
After the slayings, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said he was praying for the vicitms' families and community. "My heart is broken tonight after the tragic violence in Atlanta that took eight lives. Once again we see that hate is deadly. Praying for the families of the victims and for peace for the community," he tweeted.
Baker, the Cherokee County captain, said deadly violence was rare for the area.
"This is not very common for us," he said. "In 2020, we had one homicide."
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I live and work very close to there. I had just passed by there on my way home from work before it happened. Very scary and sad 😢
The article points out that deadly violence was rare for the area. We all hate seeing this stuff happen.
First of all Tess this article clearly states:
Officials have not disclosed a suspected motive.
Second, I had previously asked who is doing it?
May have had a problem with "massage" parlors to begin with. We've witnessed some whackjobs who do this kind of thing in other venues. But let's jump to conclusions. It's easier...................
I'm guessing "insanity" will be the plea.
So he's a liberal?
the cops made him take off his maga hat for the mugshot.
And naturally the bodies aren’t even cold before you try to make it political. [deleted]
Yea, it is.
Here, locally, things are still being updated. As of about an hour ago, local news said he was a customer at these places
Turns out it wasn't racial at all, he's a sex addict and a customer who was trying to eliminate the temptation. He's a wackadoo who was addicted to handjobs. Good thing they caught him as he was headed to Florida to take out more "Spa's".
I looked around to see where you made the same comment about 1.1.6, but I don't see it. Could you please direct me to where you posted your response?
Never mind. We know you never did.
You were the very first person to bring politics into this thread.
Nope, you made the first one dragging politics into the conversation [Deleted]
Amen.
Doesn't matter what I did "first". The fact remains that one of your friends did the same exact thing, and you made no comment concerning that.
I simply made an observation, and of you don't like the explanation,.......too bad.,
My 1.1.19 applies to you too.
So Just Jim was right, he is a "whackjob" who liked to "jump to conclusions"...
WHITE PEOPLE WERE KILLED, ALSO. UNLESS YOU THINK THOSE WHITE PEOPLE WERE SIMPLY COLLATERAL DAMAGE FOR YOUR BULLSHIT NARRATIVE, THIS HAD NOTING TO DO WITH RACE!!!
Does it have something to do with gender?
Don't think so.........
Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz
Hernandez-Ortiz was shot in the forehead and the bullet traveled down into his lungs and into his stomach, his wife Flora Gonzalez Gomez said on GoFundMe . He is now in the intensive care unit in the hospital, she said.
According to Yoseline, doctors told his family he was very lucky to have survived. "He is a really good dad," she said. "I don't want him to go."
One out of nine. So nothing to do with gender at all. AND his wife said in the article i read - HE was not the intended target".
meh. [Deleted]
Can't you make the font bigger ? That will make your words more true you know.
[Deleted.]
HMMM...two posts just above mine (posted before mine) has the exact same font, but you failed to post your same response to that. I wonder why s/
care to retract your comment?
[deleted]
Nope...but I am highly amazed.
You shouldn't be. I get lots of tickets from the more liberal mods
Funny considering this whole thread is a whine fest.
No kidding. Even when donald was in office, just complain about everything...
[deleted]
Let's all discuss the article please, not each other, font sizes or partisan sweeping generalizations.
Funny how you always whine about articles not being about you, but you sure don't have a problem making an article about someone else.
Maybe you can help me with a problem I have.
[deleted]
I'm locking this thread for being off-topic.
Maybe he couldn't achieve a happy ending and blamed the ladies. [deleted]
What makes you think this guy is a liberal? He shot people with a GUN. I thought liberals hated guns?
I just heard on the news that they think this guy is a religious wacko.
Wouldn't surprise me. He probably has a sex fetish of some kind and had a disappointing experience
Exactly.
I really do think that some don't think before they let their fingers fly across a keyboard
...uh,... can't think.
Libs aren't the only ones.
The fuck are you talking about? Not everything is political. If he is guilty he is an asshole and should never see the light of day again, who gives a shit about his politics?
A trickle of details about the suspect, who went by his middle name, offered few clues.
“Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life,” read the tagline on an Instagram account that appeared to belong to Long.
A student who graduated from Sequoyah High with Long in 2017 who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Daily Beast, “He was very innocent seeming and wouldn’t even cuss. He was sorta nerdy and didn’t seem violent from what I remember. He was a hunter and his father was a youth minister or pastor. He was big into religion.”
Crisp County Sheriff's Office
The rampage began at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth in Cherokee County, where two people were killed, one other person succumbed to their injuries en route to a nearby hospital, and one died while in treatment, according to the sheriff’s office. The victims were two Asian women, a white woman, and a white man, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . A Hispanic man was also injured in the shooting and was rushed to a hospital for medical treatment, a spokesman for the sheriff said.
About an hour later and 30 miles away, two spas on the same Atlanta street—Gold Spa and one in Aroma Therapy Spa—were targeted by gunfire, and four Asian women were killed.
.................................................
What a messed up dude. So sad for everyone.
bingo
Bingo what, exactly?
I guess you don't keep up with what's been going on in Protestant churches.
The Catholic Church gets the headlines meanwhile preachers are diddling little kids, too
I see. So, you've solved the why of this incident by using your preferred stereotype of pastors and other church leaders. No need to wait on actual facts. Don't need 'em. Since the racial hatred angle doesn't appear to be panning out, may as well use this situation to attack from another angle. We can go after the religious, instead. Well done.
You know, I certainly expected such from devangelical, but I really didn't expect it from you. That isn't a guilt trip attempt. I know we have a lot of differences but I really didn't expect it from you.
I've listened to a lot of trash over the years on this forum about the Catholic Church and its predatory priests.
If you can't admit that there have been the same problems in Protestant churches, I can't help you
I just assume religious leaders a diddling little boys as a default. That is in addition to riding the gravy train of fear and ignorance that is religion.
It happens in all religions but like I said the Catholic Church got the headlines
I don't deny the problem. It is also not the subject of discussion. It is a stereotypical prejudice used, not to explain the shooter's actions, but to use this incident to attack an institution you seem to hate. You take one piece of information from an unnamed source (an individual the shooter went to high school with) and manufacture an explanation as to how someone could do this, implying such is typical of the religious.
In other words, the only significance this crime has to you is figuring out in what way you can project it onto those you hate.
blah blah blah
I think you mean progressives but, yeah, that's about the sum of it.
I actually like Episcopalians. They don't come to my house on Saturday morning asking if I've found Jesus.
Ahhh, as we start getting the pandemic a bit more under control isn’t it nice to see normal headlines again in America?
Too bad we are going to have to start getting used to this shit again.
I was thinking the same thing. a whole year without a school shooting.
As expected, a lot of folks jumping to hasty conclusions ... @!@
Off topic ... what's up with white guys and scraggly beards?
Never trust someone with weird facial hair.
It does look like shit, that is a fact.
I knew the shooter was white when I heard, "Shooter was arrested".
... especially in georgia. where's the usual background info dump on this killer? I wonder if he's got somebody in his life that doesn't want to be embarrassed? maybe he wiped his past on the way out.
And then complain because the Dems put forth a universal background check bill.
... that more than 2/3's of americans want enacted now ...
Ho Hum. Another day another shooting. Welcome to America. Buy a gun.
As more is learned about the perpetrator, I'm not so sure that this was a hate crime or even an anti-Asian intention. Certain questions are coming to mind, such as if his intent was to kill Asians, then why go to distantly spread out locations of a specific business, why not just go to the local Chinatown and fire in any direction? Asians were not the only ones killed - two of the victims were not. And as Steve said above: "...his father was a youth minister or pastor. He was big into religion." So by listing God as one of his great interests, maybe he felt he was doing God's business, ending the lives of sinners, sins to which he succumbed and was harbouring an uncontrollable guilt - perhaps by doing so he was cleansing himself. No specific motive has been indicated as yet, so it's open to conjecture.
He was a Whackjob and like most Whackadoos who lose it there was something that triggered him and that became his target. He's said to be a sex addict but I think that's a symptom of larger problems. Maybe he was a sad lonely man who took comfort where he could get it but he was a whackjob so when the "Love" he paid for disappeared when he ran out of money he snapped. I wonder if he maxed out a few credit cards at the "Spa" and found himself in financial trouble. I'm sure there were lots of "Reasons" he did what he did but in the end it was the Whackjob who killed those people and one reason is as good as the next to a whackadoo. There are lots of people who make bad decisions and do stupid shit and have to learn hard lessons and some never learn and spend their lives in a shitstorm of their own making but lucky for us most aren't whacky enough to go on a killing spree.
No, but you believe what you have to.
No he was just a Whackjob and that's the reason he did what he did. Whackjobs often latch on to a cause or excuse for their crimes but it's not the reason they kill they kill because they're a whackadoo. A Whackjob killer can be a Racist that hates Asians or a Social Justice Warrior that hates White People it makes no difference because the excuse is secondary it's the fixation, it takes a Whackjob to do these types of killings and he could just as easily have shot up a BurgerKing for making him Fat. Maybe they'll find a copy of The Catcher in the Rye in his possessions and some people will try to assign some type of meaning to that. In the end Whackadoos fixate on all types of things and twist them into their delusions but it's the crazy that pushes the cheese off the cracker.
Maybe we should stop giving these people "cute" names like "whackadoodle, whackjob, nutjob, etc" and call them what they truly are - murderers. The description you are using lessens the horror of what they did. He is not a person that walked into Walmart with his ass hanging out of his pants - he killed people - not a whackjob - he is a murderer, plain and simple. Stop making this less, stop giving him an excuse - he killed people.
I don't think it was racially motivated. I do think his brain wasn't working properly due to influence of religion and massage parlors being readily available. He couldn't stand the guilt and shame any longer and he snapped
He's a Murderer but that's understood, what type of Murderer is he ? A Whackjob Murderer. It's not "cute" or "less" just a specific type. I call them Whackadoos and Whackjobs because it's an insulting degrading name just like they deserve. Maybe you'd like to call him "The Asian Ho Murderer" but I'd rather call him "the little dick Whackadoo whose cheese turned to wizz". We all know what he did and what he is.
I never said anything remotely like that, but keep covering the fact the terms you use make his crime seem like a lark.
The left is trying to make it look like these shootings were anti-Asian hate crimes.
Sorry the facts prove otherwise.
This is what happens when another false narrative is used to demonize people. I say we give a code violation to anyone falsely claiming a hate crime!