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Robert Aaron Long: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know - Heavy.com

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Cherokee County Sheriff/Twitter Surveillance footage from the scene of the Cherokee County shooting./Robert Aaron Long

Robert Aaron Long was identified as the suspect accused of shooting five people at a spa in Woodstock, Cherokee County, Georgia, and Atlanta officials said it is “extremely likely” he opened fire at two more spas about an hour later. The three shootings left eight people dead. Six of the victims were Asian, and police are investigating whether the shootings were fueled by a racist motive.

Deputies alleged he entered Young’s Asian Massage Parlor along Georgia Highway 92 and opened fire at about 5 p.m., shooting five people and killing four of them in Woodstock, an Atlanta suburb near Acworth. Officials alleged he then drove to nearby Atlanta and opened fire at two additional Asian spas, Gold Spa and Aromatherapy, killing four more people. He was taken into custody in Crisp County nearly 200 miles away. Deputies named the 21-year-old Woodstock man as the suspect at about 8:30 p.m. Minutes later, they announced he had been arrested. The FBI is also involved with the investigation.

Surveillance footage showed the suspect fleeing the scene of Young’s Asian Massage Parlor, which helped officials identify him as a likely suspect in the Atlanta shootings and spot his vehicle in Crisp County. License plate readers also indicated Long’s vehicle was near the crime scenes at the time of the second and third shootings.

Long has been described as a quiet, religious person who loved guns and hunting.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Long Was Heavily Involved in His Church & a Former Classmate Said ‘He Wouldn’t Even Cuss’

Long was described as a religious person by a former classmate at Sequoyah High. The 21-year-old graduated in 2017. The classmate said Long’s dad was a pastor, and he had seemed “innocent” and “nerdy.”

“He was very innocent seeming and wouldn’t even cuss,” the classmate told The Daily Beast. “He was sorta nerdy and didn’t seem violent from what I remember. He was a hunter and his father was a youth minister or pastor. He was big into religion.”

Social media posts from the Crabapple First Baptist Church show Long and his family had a lengthy history with the church. Long’s father is not listed as a pastor at the church. The elders of the church released a statement to Heavy.com, saying they were “grieved” and “heartbroken.”

“We are grieved to hear the tragic news about the multiple deaths in the Atlanta area. We are heartbroken for all involved,” the statement said. “We grieve for the victims and their families, and we continue to pray for them. Moreover, we are distraught for the Long family and continue to pray for them as well.”

Posts indicate he attended the church with his mom, dad and his younger sister. His mother organized events at the church, like a movie night with a cotton candy machine.

robert aaron long

GettyA police officer uses a flashlight to look in a shed outside a massage parlor where three people were shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia.

A Facebook post that has now been deleted included testimony from Long at his baptism in 2018. He said it was the second time he had been baptized.

“As many of you may remember, when I was 8 years old I thought I was becoming a Christian, and got baptized during that time. And I remember a lot of the reason for that is a lot of my friends in my Sunday school class were doing that. And after that time, there wasn’t any fruit from the root that is our salvation,” he said, referencing scripture.

The Bible passage means that a person’s actions should reflect their inner walk with God. He continues, saying he attended a youth group in seventh grade where he heard the Biblical story about the prodigal son.

“The son goes off and squanders all that he has and lives completely for himself and then, when he finds he’s wanting to eat pig food, he realized there’s something wrong and he goes back to his father and his father runs back to him and embraces him. And by the grace of God I was able to draw the connection there and realize this is a story between what happened with me and God. I ran away living completely for myself, and he still wants me, and so that’s when I was saved,” he said.

Long used his middle name, Aaron.

“We had the joy of witnessing the baptism of Aaron Long yesterday!,” the church wrote in the now-deleted Facebook post. “Please watch this video to hear his testimony!”

robert aaron long

GettyPolice officers are seen outside a massage parlor where three people were shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia. Eight people were killed in shootings at three different spas in the US state of Georgia on March 16.

Long was also involved with the church’s Student Ministry Team as recently as 2018, according to minutes from a meeting of the elders. He was one of 11 people who served as team members, which “exists to see students receive Jesus Christ as Lord, and walk in Him, being rooted in the faith.”

The Daily Beast reported an Instagram account that “appeared to belong” to Long professed his love of God and guns.

“Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life,” a tagline for the account said.

Cherokee County Sheriff’s deputies shared surveillance footage of the shooting suspect fleeing the scene. About three hours after the shooting, Long was arrested in Crisp County, about 200 miles south of the scene and about a two-and-a-half hour drive from the location of the first shooting.

robert aaron long

GettyLaw enforcement personnel are seen outside a massage parlor where a person was shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia.

“Cherokee Sheriffs office searching for Robert Aaron Long, 21 of Woodstock,” Ashley Thompson of CBS 46 wrote on Twitter shortly before the arrest. “He’s a suspect in shooting this afternoon on Hwy 92. near Acworth. He is believed to be driving a dark 4 door Hyundai Tucson (tag number RZR8983 with damage to the driver’s side of the vehicle.”

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office released a photo of the suspect earlier in the day on Facebook.

“Please share,” the Cherokee County Sheriff wrote on Facebook. “Suspect in a multiple shooting on Hwy 92 near Bells Ferry Rd. If anyone recognizes this suspect or his vehicle please call 911.”

That image, and surveillance footage from other businesses, helped identify Long as a suspect in all three shootings.

“It does appear that it’s the same suspect,” Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

2. Law Enforcement Officials Set Up a Perimeter on I-75 After Long Was Spotted Headed Toward Crisp County 200 Miles South

Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock described Long’s apprehension during a press conference shortly after he was taken into custody. Georgia State Patrol and the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office received a tip at about 8 p.m. that Long was driving down the interstate and headed into the county. Troopers and deputies stationed along the interstate and contacted Long at about 8:30 p.m. Law enforcement performed a pursuit-intervention technique, or PIT maneuver, to stop the vehicle, “which caused the vehicle to spin out of control.”

“The suspect was taken into custody without incident at mile marker 93 in Crisp County, and transported to the Crisp County Jail,” Hancock said.

He said law enforcement investigating the shootings in northern Georgia, including the FBI, would be reporting to Crisp County “to continue this investigation.”

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office celebrated the arrest in a brief Facebook post.

“Shooting suspect in custody!” they wrote.

Around the time the arrest was announced, another one of the victims was pronounced dead at the hospital.

“#BREAKING Robert Aaron Long, the suspected gunman in the Cherokee County massage parlor shooting has been caught following a chase in Crisp County. Also, death toll now at four in Cherokee,” Chris Jose of WSB wrote on Twitter.

The victims have not yet been identified.

robert aaron long

GettyLaw enforcement personnel are seen outside a massage parlor where a person was shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Zac Summers of CBS 46 also wrote about the arrest on Twitter.

“CAPTURED: Suspect in custody in Crisp County, the sheriff’s office there. Deputies did PIT maneuver to get him there. Still unclear if connected to ATL,” he wrote. “Also in Cherokee Co…now 4 dead. 1 injured.”

3. Officials Said Long Opened Fire at Young’s Asian Massage Parlor Near Acworth & Surveillance Footage Captured Him Fleeing the Scene

Cherokee County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the shooting scene at Young’s Asian Massage Parlor to find three people dead and two others injured. One of those injured people died later at the hospital, Jay Baker of the sheriff’s office told 11 Alive News. The victims’ names have not been released.

Two of them were Asian women, one was a White woman and one was a White man, Baker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The fifth victim, who was taken to the hospital, was a Hispanic man. Officials did not immediately release an update on his condition.

robert aaron long

GettyLaw enforcement personnel leave a massage parlor where a person was shot and killed on March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Baker said Cherokee County had only one homicide in all of 2020 and in all of 2019. He called the mass shooting “shocking.”

“In 2020, we had one homicide in Cherokee County, so, we’ve had three today, so it’s pretty shocking not only to our responding deputies and public safety, but also to the community here. And we take this very serious,” Baker said.

Lanes were blocked on Highway 92 at Bells Ferry Road as officials conducted their investigation. The road was beginning to reopen in the evening, WSB reported.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office asked the public to avoid the area immediately after the shooting, and shared a photo that showed the busy highway lined with police vehicles.

“Avoid BellsFerry Road and Highway 92 if possible,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Twitter. “Investigating a shooting in that area.”

4. Two Additional Shootings Were Reported in Northern Atlanta Shortly After the Cherokee County Shooting at Gold Spa & Aromatherapy Spa

The Atlanta Police Department worked with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office to determine two shootings at spas in northeast Atlanta were likely related to the Cherokee County shooting. The two shootings in northeast Atlanta left four people dead. They occurred at about 6 p.m. at two businesses, Gold Spa and Aroma Therapy Spa, which are across the street from each other in the 1900 block of Piedmont Road.

All four victims were Asian females, Atlanta Police Department’s interim Chief Rodney Bryant said in a press conference. Their identities have not been released. There were no additional victims who were shot, he said.

Bryant said police were called to the first location, Gold Spa, for a robbery in progress just before 6 p.m. There, they found three women dead. While they were on the scene, they received another call for shots fired at Aromatherapy Spa. One person was fatally shot at that location.

“Many have asked whether these shootings are related to Cherokee County’s shootings,” Atlanta Police Department wrote in a press release early Wednesday morning. “Video footage from our Video Integration Center places the Cherokee County suspect’s vehicle in the area, around the time of our Piedmont Road shootings. That, along with video evidence viewed by investigators, suggests it is extremely likely our suspect is the same as Cherokee County’s, who is in custody. Because of this, an investigator from APD is in Cherokee County and we are working closely with them to confirm with certainty our cases are related.”

They concluded the press release saying that no additional information would be released until a morning press conference, with a time to be announced, and stressed that the information was preliminary.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp commended law enforcement on their quick apprehension of the suspect and expressed his condolences to families.

“Our entire family is praying for the victims of these horrific acts of violence,” he wrote on Twitter. “We deeply appreciate the quick apprehension of a suspect by @ga_dps in coordination with local and federal law enforcement.”

Although the initial call in Atlanta was for a robbery, police said nothing was stolen and ruled out robbery as a motive. They are investigating whether the shooting was a hate crime, according to 11 Alive News.

“6 of the 8 dead in Metro Atlanta are Asian women — 2 murder victims in Cherokee County and all 4 in Atlanta. Nothing was stolen, so robbery has been excluded as a motive. Police are investigating hate/bias in the 3 spa shootings,” Brendan Keefe of 11 Alive News wrote on Twitter.

5. Advocates Spoke Out Against Anti-Asian Racism Inflamed By COVID-19 & Investigators Are Examining a Possible Racist Motive

Reporters at a press conference with the Atlanta Police Department asked whether racism heightened with the coronavirus may have been the motive behind the shootings. Police said it was too early to pinpoint a motive, but confirmed all four victims in Atlanta were Asian females. Two of the five victims in Cherokee County were Asian females.

The Atlanta Police Department sent officers to “check on” similar businesses and increased patrols in the areas of those businesses, the department said in a press release early Wednesday morning.

“Having these two shootings occur at massage parlors and with knowledge of Cherokee County’s shootings, Zone 2 commanders quickly dispatched officers to check nearby similar businesses and patrols have been increased in those areas,” the press release said.

Dr. Michelle Au, a state senator in Georgia, spoke out against anti-Asian racism the day before the shooting.

She said the issue does not get enough public attention, and called anti-Asian racism during the pandemic “a new chapter in a very old story.” Incidents include elderly Asians being physically assaulted, shoved to the ground and stabbed, and Asian pedestrians spit on in the street.

She said middle school students told an Asian classmate “people like him” were the cause of “the so-called China virus and Kung Flu.” When he told them he was not Chinese, they repeatedly punched him in the face, she said.

Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition organized to combat anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic, said in a statement that the shootings impact the entire Asian community.

“The reported shootings of Asian American women on Tuesday in Atlanta is an unspeakable tragedy – for the families of the victims first and foremost, but also for the AAPI community — which has been reeling from high levels of racial discrimination,” they wrote on Twitter. “Few details have been released, including whether or not the shootings were related or motivated by hate. But right now there is a great deal of fear and pain in the Asian American community that must be addressed.”

HuffPost reported there have been 4,000 incidents of racism against Asians reported in the last year.

The shooting prompted the NYPD to increase their presence in Asian communities. They deployed officers from the Critical Response Command to Asian communities around New York City.

“#NYPDCT is monitoring the shooting of Asian Americans in Georgia,” the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau wrote on Twitter. “While there is no known nexus to #NYC we will be deploying assets to our great Asian communities across the city out of an abundance of caution.”

READ NEXT: PHOTO: Manhunt for Suspect After Shootings at Spas in Atlanta, Georgia

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