Who is behind the Atlanta massage parlor massacre: arrested after high-speed chase

It is “extremely likely” that the same suspect was involved in all three fatal shootings at a massage parlor in the US state of Georgia. police said Tuesday.

The suspect, called Robert Aaron Long, 21 years old, is in custody in the violence that killed eight people, most women of Asian descent.

Video evidence of the shootings at the three Atlanta-area spas “suggests our suspect is most likely the same.”an Atlanta Police spokesperson said, adding that investigators were working closely. “to confirm with certainty that our cases are related ”.

For the time being, little is known about Long. US media reported that his family lives in a three-bedroom, one-story house in Woodstock, a predominantly white, middle-class suburb about 30 miles north of downtown Atlanta.

“They seem to be a good Christian family.”, said to The Washington Post Mary Morgan, 88, who lives across the street. “They went to church regularly and I never saw anything wrong with them.”

Long, who drove a Hyundai Tucson negro from 2007, he was detained after a “short chase” about 150 miles from Atlanta, according to a statement from the Georgia Department of Security posted on Facebook. State policeman led persecution intervention maneuver, “What made the vehicle uncontrollable”said Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock. Long was taken into custody “without incident” and was being held at Crisp County Jail for Cherokee County authorities, who were due to arrive soon to continue their investigation.

For the time being it is not known if the shootings have a racist motive, although some media point out that there may have been racial motivation in the killings given that six of the victims are women of Asian descent

The first shooting took place shortly before 5:00 p.m. local time in a room known as the Asian Parlo Youth Massager, located near Acworth, a suburb of Atlanta, in the county of Cherokke.

Four people were killed in this first attack and a fifth was injured. The dead are three women, two of whom are Asian, and a man.

Shortly thereafter, around 5:45 p.m. local time, other four people were killed in attacks on two classrooms located on the same block in the city of Atlanta allegedly done by Long.

In the first (Gold Spa) they died three women and in the last (Aromatherapy Spa) another woman. According to the Atlanta police, These four murdered women were of Asian descent.

Long was caught on surveillance video arriving at the Acworth massage center around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, minutes before the attack, authorities said.

Police said video footage showed the suspect’s vehicle in the Atlanta spa area also at the time of the attacks. This, along with other video evidence, “Suggest our suspect is probably the same,” Atlanta police said in a statement.

NGO Stop the hate AAPI, dedicated to preventing Asian discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic, described the event as “an indescribable tragedy” for the American-Asian community, which has suffered a large number of racist attacks in recent months.

According to the NGO, there have been almost 3,800 reports of hate incidents targeting Asian Americans nationwide since last March, after the declaration of the pandemic.

The organization also said the shootings on Tuesday “They will only exacerbate the fear and pain that the Asian-American community continues to endure.”

KEEP READING: