Authorities announced Wednesday that 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long has been charged with four counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault in Cherokee County, Georgia, and four counts of homicide in Atlanta after allegedly shooting eight people in three separate shootings at spas in the metro Atlanta area on Tuesday night.
"Six women of Asian descent are among the dead, raising suspicions of a hate crime," reports NPR, though Atlanta police said early Wednesday that investigators have not settled on a motive. Officials said Long may have frequented the locations in the past, and he reportedly told authorities he was trying to eliminate temptation for an apparent sex addiction.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
-
2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museumspeed read The suspected gunman chanted 'free, free Palestine'
-
Bombing of fertility clinic blamed on 'antinatalist'speed read A car bombing injured four people and damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California
-
Suspect charged after 11 die in Vancouver car attackSpeed Read Kai-Ji Adam Lo drove an SUV into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival
