For Asians and Asian Americans facing increased incidents of hate in the wake of the pandemic, the Atlanta-area attacks only exacerbate existing fears
“I’m hiding right now,” the woman said. “Please come.”
Robert Long, 21, was arrested in connection with the attacks 150 miles south of the city, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said he was on his way to Florida to potentially take the lives of more victims.
The suspect told police he believed he had a sex addiction and that he saw the spas as “a temptation … that he wanted to eliminate,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said at Wednesday’s news conference.
However, Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said it is still too early to know a motive behind the devastating violence.
“When we learned about this last night, we were horrified and the sinking feeling that I had was this had to be a crime related to AAPI hate. As we have learned details of the event unfold, I still believe that this is a racially-motivated crime,” Georgia State House Representative Be Nguyen told CNN on Wednesday. “In this particular case, where the victims were Asian women, we see the intersections of racism, xenophobia, and gender-based violence.”
“While we’re relieved the suspect was quickly apprehended, we’re certainly not at peace as this attack still points to an escalating threat many in the Asian American community feel today,” Margaret Huang, President & CEO of Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement Wednesday.
Eight people killed across 30 miles
Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, deputies were called to Young’s Asian Massage between the Georgia cities of Woodstock and Acworth after reports of a shooting, Cherokee County sheriff’s officials said.
That shooting left four people dead — two Asian and two White — and one person injured, Baker said. Two of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while the other two died at a hospital.
Killed were Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta; Xiaojie Yan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44.
The injured survivor was Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, authorities said.
About an hour later and 30 miles away, Atlanta police responded to what was described as a robbery at the Gold Massage Spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. Police said they found three people dead.
While there, police received another call of shots fired across the street at the Aroma Therapy Spa, where they found one person dead, Bryant said.
The names of the four victims have not yet been released by authorities.
Investigators found surveillance video of a suspect near the Cherokee County scene and published images on social media.
Long’s family saw the images, contacted authorities and helped identify him, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said Wednesday.
“(The family members) are very distraught, and they were very helpful in this apprehension,” Reynolds said.
Investigators were able to track Long’s phone, and Reynolds reached out to the sheriff in Georgia’s Crisp County to let him know Long appeared to be heading in that direction, the Cherokee County sheriff said Wednesday.
‘It would be appropriate’ if the suspect was charged with a hate crime, mayor says
Around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, the highway patrol about 150 miles south of Atlanta was alerted that a suspect in the Cherokee County shooting was heading its way, Reynolds said in a video on the Crisp County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page.
After Long’s vehicle was spotted, a chase ensued on Interstate 75 and a state trooper performed a maneuver that sent the SUV out of control, authorities said.
Police confiscated a 9 millimeter gun from his vehicle, according to Baker, the Cherokee County sheriff’s captain.
Video evidence — including that showing Long’s vehicle in the area of the Atlanta shootings — suggests that Long is responsible for the killings in Atlanta, police there said.
Long has claimed responsibility for the shootings in Cherokee County and in Atlanta, the Cherokee County sheriff’s office said.
One law enforcement source told CNN that the suspect is on suicide watch and was wearing a vest intended to protect him from self-harm in the mug shot.
He is facing four counts of murder and a charge of aggravated assault, according to the county sheriff’s office. More charges are possible.
Bottoms added that she thought “it would be appropriate” if Long was charged with a hate crime.
“Sex” is a hate crime category under Georgia’s new law. If Long was targeting women out of hatred for them or scapegoating them for his own problems, it could potentially be a hate crime. The shootings don’t have to be racially motivated to constitute a hate crime in Georgia.
A law enforcement source told CNN on Wednesday that Long was recently kicked out of the house by his family due to his sexual addiction, which, the source said, included frequently spending hours watching pornography online.
An incident report from the CCSO said an anonymous caller to 911 told dispatch that Long was “kicked out of his parents’ house last night,” adding that he “was emotional,” the report says.
CNN’s Jason Hanna, Amanda Watts, Audrey Ash, Casey Tolan, Nicole Chavez, Artemis Moshtaghian, Raja Razek, Jamiel Lynch, Steve Almasy and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
