Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, Georgia, who allegedly shot and killed eight people at Atlanta area massage parlors on Tuesday, tells authorities he “had a really bad day” and suggested he had a sexual addiction as a motive for murder. The result, eight dead and one injured, was because he was “fed up” and “at the end of his rope.”
Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said interviews with the subject revealed that his shootings may not have been racially motivated, but tied to sexual issues.
Long told police that he wanted to eliminate the temptation, as he may have visited some of the places in the past.
Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said the officers “are just not there yet” with regard to any potential racial motivators involved in the shooting.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms said it appeared the shooter was on his way to Florida to attack a porn-related industry when he was intercepted by deputies.
The names of the Cherokee County victims were released, while the Atlanta victims are still unnamed, but the Daily Beast reports those four victims were Asian.
- 33-year-old Delaina Ashley Yaun, of Acworth
- 54-year-old Paul Andre Michels, of Atlanta
- 49-year-old Xiaojie Tan, of Kennesaw
- 44-year-old Daoyou Feng
- Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, injured
Long’s parents worked with police to confirm his identity, but family did not respond for comment. His youth pastor at Crabapple First Baptist Church confirmed he was the suspect, and said elders would be releasing a statement. A now-deleted video from the church showed Long speaking about events that led up to his Christian baptism at age 8, suggesting it was because all of his friends were doing it. In the seventh grade he attended a youth group where the speaker was discussing 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.”
- An anonymous high school classmate said, “He was very innocent seeming and wouldn’t even cuss. 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” and that he was “big into religion.”
- An Instagram caption from an account that has since been deactivated read: “Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life”.
The FBI is investigating, and President Biden made a statement earlier today.