Atlanta spa shootings: Mayor calls for 'stiffest charges' against suspect

Atlanta Mayor mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has said the suspect of spa shootings that killed eight people on Tuesday should face the “stiffest most appropriate charges” under the state law. Bottoms, while speaking to CNN, called for hate crime charges to be brought in against the suspect, who killed eight people at three different spas in the Atlanta-area, six of whom were women of Asian descent. The suspect named Robert Aaron Long was caught by the police not so long after the shootings took place. 

What happened in Atlanta?

On Tuesday, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long allegedly carried out attacks at three spas in Georgia’s Atlanta city. The suspect stormed the Young's Asian Massage near Woodstock at around 5:00 pm local time, where he killed four people and left one injured. Of the four, two died immediately on the spot, while the other two succumbed to their injuries at the hospital. About an hour later, the police received a call regarding another shooting incident at two different spas located opposite to each other on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. Four people were killed there, three of whom died at Gold Massage Spa, while one died at Aroma Therapy Spa. 

Robert Long’s arrest

Long was arrested not so long after the shootings as he was tracked down by the police, who used his phone to establish his real-time location before informing the law enforcement of the area where he was headed. The Cherokee County sheriff department found CCTV footage from the first scene and published it online. Long’s family saw the image and identified him, providing his phone number to the investigators. The police then traced Long’s cell phone and found he was headed towards the South, following which they informed the local law enforcement there, who spotted his vehicle and caught him after a chase. 

What was Long’s motive?

The real intentions of the suspect are still unknown but investigators suggest the shootings were not racially motivated. According to CNN, Long told investigators that he saw spas as temptation and wanted to eliminate them because of his addiction to sex. However, some also suggest that it could be an incident of hate crime against Asian-Americans given the increase in racist violent incidents lately. Mayor Bottoms told CNN that it is difficult to believe what Long says because he callously killed eight people. Bottoms said six out of the eight victims were Asian and he targetted only Asian spas, so it is hard to ignore the possibility of racial crime. 

“I commend law enforcement for their quick work in arresting a suspect in the tragic shootings yesterday. A motive is still not clear, but a crime against the community is a crime against us all. I have remained in close contact with the White House and the APD as they work with federal, state and local partners to investigate the suspect who is responsible for this senseless violence in our city,” Bottoms said in a statement.