Atlanta-Area Spa Shootings: What's Known About the Attacks That Left 8 People Dead

A 21-year-old suspect is in custody following three fatal shootings in Georgia that left eight people dead. Here's what we know so far about the investigation.

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Shootings at three different massage parlors in the Atlanta, Georgia area left eight people dead on Tuesday night, marking the sixth mass shooting in the U.S. this year.

As of Wednesday morning, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms had confirmed her office was in close contact with both the White House and the Atlanta Police Department, the latter of whom will be continuing to coordinate their efforts with federal and local agencies as part of an ongoing investigation into the violent attacks.

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Given the nature of Tuesday night’s violence, many Asian Americans in Georgia and across the nation have expressed concern that the attack could have been fueled in part by a recent surge in attacks against Asian Americans in the U.S.

Below, we break down what’s known about the Georgia shootings so far, including the identity of the 21-year-old suspect, better described as a white domestic terrorist.

The first shooting, per local police, took place at Young’s Asian Massage near Acworth at around 4:54 p.m. EST. According to an Associated Press update on Wednesday morning, five people were shot, with two confirmed to be dead at the scene. Three others were taken to a nearby hospital, where two more died.

Then, at around 5:47 p.m. local time, APD officers responded to what was then believed to be a business robbery in progress at Gold Spa Massage on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. Officers discovered three women deceased inside the business from gunshot wounds.

While still on the scene for the initial call, officers were informed of shots having been fired across the street at Aromatherapy Spa. Upon checking that location, one woman was found deceased from what appeared to also be gunshot wounds.

Complex has reached out to a rep for the Atlanta Police Department for additional comment.

Robert Aaron Long, 21, is the suspect in the three shootings. As confirmed to Complex by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Department, Long—who was arrested late Tuesday in Crisp County—took responsibility for the shootings in Cherokee County and Atlanta. On Wednesday, it was revealed—per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution—that Long informed investigators of his original plan to also drive to Florida to potentially carry out additional and similar acts of violence.

Earlier, APD said video footage from their video integration center placed the suspect’s vehicle in the Piedmont Road area around the time of those shootings. Additional video evidence also pointed to Long being responsible for all three shootings.

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“I commend law enforcement for their quick work in arresting a suspect in the tragic shootings on yesterday,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement. “A motive is still not clear, but a crime against any community is a crime against us all. I have remained in close contact with the White House and APD as they work with federal, state and local partners to investigate the suspect who is responsible for this senseless violence in our city. My prayers are with the families and friends of the victims whose lives were cut short by these shootings.”

A 9mm handgun was found in Long’s car at the time of his arrest. On Wednesday, Long was taken to the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center. A rep for the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office told Complex he is currently charged with four counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault. He has no bond.

A total of eight people were killed in the three shootings; six were of Asian descent, and seven were women. The identities of four victims of the Cherokee County attack were confirmed to Complex by a sheriff’s office rep to be 54-year-old Paul Andre Michels; Xiaojie Tan, age 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; and 33-year-old Delaina Ashley Yaun. Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, was injured. 

All four women identified in a subsequent March 18 statement from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office were Korean: Soon Chung Park, who was 74 years old; Hyun Jung Grant, age 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Yong Ae Yue, who was 63. Autopsies determined Kim died of gunshot wounds to the chest; the other three homicides on the March 18 statement are listed as “gunshot wound of head.”

Xiaojie Tan, who also went by Emily, owned Young’s Asian Spa as well as a second business in a neighboring city. “She did everything for me and for the family,” her daughter told USA Today. “She provided everything. She worked every day, 12 hours a day, so that me and our family would have a better life.”

Hyun Jung Grant (maiden name Kim) was a single mother whose 23-year-old son Randy Park told the same newspaper she loved karaoke, dancing, and music. “She dedicated her whole life to raising us, but even then she found time to enjoy herself with her friends,” he said. Park started a GoFundMe page, writing, “It is only my brother and I in the United States. The rest of my family is in South Korea and are unable to come. She was one of my best friends and the strongest influence on who we are today. Losing her has put a new lens on my eyes on the amount of hate that exists in our world.” That fundraiser has garnered $1.34 million via over 33,500 donors; the initial goal was $20,000.

Yong Ae Yue’s sons told Kathy Park of NBC News, “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved mother, and words cannot adequately describe our grief. To all those who have reached out to provide support and words of encouragement, thank you.”

Delaina Ashley Yaun was the mother of a 13-year-old boy and 8-month-old girl; she and her husband were wed less than a year ago and at the spa together for a date. USA Today reported via Yaun’s half-sister that Delaina’s husband locked himself in a separate room and was not hurt. “He’s taking it hard. … He heard the gunshots and everything,” said the relative. “You can’t escape that when you’re in a room and gunshots are flying—what do you do?”

Paul Andre Michels was an Army veteran and owner of an alarm company who had lived in the city for 26 years with his wife Bonnie. His brother said he was “just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, as reported in the Washington Post, is an auto repair shop-owner and mechanic from Guatemala; he sustained wounds to his forehead, throat, lungs, and stomach and is in critical condition. “I have been shot! Please come! I need you!” were the last words his wife of a decade, Flora Gonzalez Gomez, heard from Hernandez-Ortiz on the phone. When she spoke to the Post, her husband had a bullet in his stomach that was currently too risky to be taken out.

The paper reports that “doctors have told Gonzalez [Gomez] there are positive signs that [Elcias] will recover” and that their family is “devastated” by the mass murder. “I just can’t understand why anyone would do something like this,” Gonzalez Gomez said. The Post noted “she believed her husband was in the wrong place at the wrong time” and that he had spoken the night prior about heading to a business near the spa to wire their parents in Guatemala some money.

Flora Gonzalez Gomez started a GoFundMe to help cover medical bills, and specifically facial surgery Hernandez-Ortiz will require. So far they’ve raised $112,000 of their $150K goal.

In a tweeted statement on Tuesday, a rep for the national Stop AAPI Hate coalition called the violence an “unspeakable tragedy.”

According to Cherokee Sheriff’s investigators, who interviewed Long following his arrest, the suspect has argued the shootings were not racially motivated. Instead, he’s said to have told investigators he blamed the massage parlor locations for serving as an outlet for what he claimed was an addiction to sex.

Police in Atlanta, meanwhile, have said that it’s too early into the investigation for them to determine whether they would formally label these attacks as hate crimes.

“[First Lady Marty Kemp] and I are heartbroken and disgusted by the heinous shootings that took place last night,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on Wednesday afternoon. “We continue to pray for the families and loved ones of the victims. These horrific crimes have no place in Georgia. We look forward to a full accounting of the killer’s deranged actions as law enforcement conducts a thorough, detailed investigation. Every Georgian, including the AAPI community, deserve to be safe and secure in our state.”

Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City, condemned the acts of “domestic terrorism” at a press conference on Wednesday.

“We have to be clear here that what we saw here is nothing less than domestic terrorism,” he said. “People killed in their workplaces, going about their lives, simply because of their ethnicity and a systematic effort to harm people. At a time when so many people in this country are trying to work together to overcome the pandemic, to see this hatred, to see it take such a violent form, is extraordinary distressing. And we all need to understand the pain that Asian Americans are going through right now in this city and all over the country and we need to be there for them. We have to stop Asian hate.”

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Last year, notably, the FBI deemed white supremacists and other forms of homegrown terrorism an ISIS-level “national threat priority.”

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