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According to a recent report from Associated Press, there were two shootings at two different massage parlors in Atlanta and one in the suburbs this Tuesday evening.
With these shootings, eight people were left dead, many were of Asian women descent, authorities said. The deadly attacks began around 5 p.m. when five people were brutally shot at Young’s Asian Massage Parlor in a strip mall near a city in Acworth, about 30 miles north of Atlanta, according to a Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. Two people died right at the scene and three people were transported to the hospital where two of them didn’t make it and also died.
Around 5:50 p.m., Police in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta responded to a call from someone and they stated that there was a robbery in progress. They found three women dead from noticeable gunshot wounds at Gold Spa. While they were at that scene, they received a call again reporting shots fired at another spa across the street, Aromatherapy Spa, and found a woman who appeared to be shot dead inside the business.
The killings came suspiciously and seem to be a wave of attacks against Asian Americans that are so-called are the blame for the spread of the coronavirus across the United States. “Our entire family is praying for the victims of these horrific acts of violence,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday evening on Twitter.
There was a suspect in the Acworth shooting who was sought out by surveillance video pulling up to the business around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, minutes before the attack, authorities said. The suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, was taken into custody in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta. Police stated that they believe Long is also the suspect in the Atlanta shootings. FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said the agency would be collaborating with Atlanta and Cherokee County authorities in the investigation and will take notice whether or not the killings are going to be classified as hate crimes.
