Suspect Caught After Eight Killed in US Massage Parlor Shootings

Shootings at two massage parlors in Atlanta, US, and one in the suburbs Tuesday night (local time) left eight people dead, many of them women of Asian descent, authorities say.

A 21-year-old man suspected in the shooting was taken into custody in southwest Georgia hours later after a chase, police said.

The attacks began around 5 p.m., when five people were shot at the Youngs Asian massage parlor in a shopping center near a rural area in Acworth, about 50 kilometers north of Atlanta, the office spokesman said. Cherokee County Sheriff Capt. Jay Baker.

Two people died at the scene and three were taken to a hospital where two of them also died, Baker said.

READ MORE:
* A 14-year-old confessed to fatally shooting five members of his family, US authorities say.
* The wave of murders of an American couple ends in death and arrest after a confrontation with the police
* 13 killed in two shootings in the US.

No one was arrested at the scene.

Around 5:50 p.m., Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood police, responding to a call for an ongoing robbery, found three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds at Gold Spa.

While at that scene, they learned of a call reporting shooting at another spa across the street, Aromatherapy Spa, and found a woman who appeared to have been shot and killed inside the business.

“It looks like they may be Asian,” said Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that its diplomats in Atlanta have confirmed by police that four of the victims who died were women of Korean descent. The ministry said its Consulate General’s office in Atlanta is trying to confirm the nationality of the women.

The killings came amid a recent wave of attacks on Asian Americans that coincided with the spread of the coronavirus across the United States.

“Our entire family is praying for the victims of these horrific acts of violence,” Governor Brian Kemp said Tuesday night on Twitter.

A man suspected in the Acworth shooting was caught on surveillance video that stopped at the business around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, minutes before the attack, authorities said. Baker said the suspect, Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, was detained in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta.

Baker said they believe Long is also the suspect in the Atlanta shootings.

Police said video footage showed the suspect’s vehicle in the Atlanta spa area also at the time of those attacks. That, as well as other video evidence, “suggests that our suspect is most likely the same as the one from Cherokee County, who is in custody,” Atlanta police said in a statement. Authorities in Atlanta and Cherokee County were working to confirm that the cases are related.

FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said the agency was assisting Atlanta and Cherokee County authorities in the investigation.

Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock said in a video posted on Facebook that his agents and state troopers were notified around 8 p.m. that a murder suspect from North Georgia was heading toward his county.

Agents and police officers were stationed along the interstate and “contacted the suspect,” who was driving a black 2007 Hyundai Tucson, around 8:30 pm, he said.

A state trooper performed a PIT maneuver, or pursuit intervention technique, “that caused the vehicle to spin out of control,” Hancock said.

Long was taken into custody “without incident” and was being held at the Crisp County Jail for Cherokee County authorities, who were expected to arrive soon to continue the investigation.

Due to the shootings, Atlanta police said they sent officers to check out similar businesses nearby and increased patrols in the area.