killing spree in Georgia: Eight dead, six of whom are Asian women

8,767+ people have lost their lives to guns in the first 75 days of 2021 (and we've had at least 94 mass shootings) (via @GunDeaths)

Eight people are now dead. Six of those victims are Asian women. “Subject was arrested after a high speed chase and brought into custody unharmed”

Eight people, including six Asian women, were killed in shootings at three different massage parlors in Atlanta and Acworth, Georgia, on Tuesday, according to local police.

A male suspect, Robert Aaron Long, was arrested and authorities are “very confident” he is responsible for all three shootings, according to Captain Jay Baker from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities said it was not immediately clear if the Asian women were the targets of the shooting and did not offer a motive for the attack.

BREAKING NEWS: 21-year-old Robert Long, the accused gunman in today's Cherokee County spa shooting, was just captured in Crisp County, Georgia. We're working to get more information about his arrest. LIVE updates on WSB Tonight at 11 p.m. LATEST >> https://t.co/36djqKNlHz pic.twitter.com/wscOX4rcgf

— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) March 17, 2021

Police stressed that it was still much too early to announce a motive, but the horrific attacks come amid a wave of targeted violence against the Asian-American community.

Details about the suspect that began to trickle out offered few clues.

“Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life,” read the tagline on an Instagram account that appeared to belong to Long.

A student who graduated from Sequoyah High with Long in 2017 who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Daily Beast, “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. He was big into religion.”

www.thedailybeast.com/...

Four more people were killed at two other spas in Atlanta, authorities say. Investigators are trying to determine whether the shootings are connected. https://t.co/yV7CLGAVqq

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) March 17, 2021

“It does appear that it’s the same suspect,” Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee sheriff’s office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. https://t.co/dOCA0CjLir

— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) March 17, 2021

Wednesday, Mar 17, 2021 · 5:22:30 AM +00:00 · annieli

.@huahsu wrote one of the most thoughtful pieces on the recent anti-Asian attacks. "It’s difficult to describe anti-Asian racism when society lacks a coherent, historical account of what that racism actually looks like." https://t.co/7yss0amed3

— Michael Luo (@michaelluo) March 17, 2021

As usual, there’s some disinformation fakery floating around out there. We’ll know about motive soon enough.

So this screenshot that purports to show murderer Robert Aaron Long posting a rant on Facebook about Chinese people is going around right now and I'm about 80% sure it's fake, me and @hungrybowtie (mostly Garrison lol) spent several hours trying

Moreover, ICE must be destroyed pic.twitter.com/L77wbVUv48

— ICE must be destroyed 🏴 (@Itmechr3) March 17, 2021

Wednesday, Mar 17, 2021 · 7:03:03 AM +00:00 · annieli

UPDATE: Police in New York and Seattle have announced they're increasing the presence of law enforcement in Asian American communities following the Atlanta shootings https://t.co/XO4oqMD91c

— Axios (@axios) March 17, 2021

"Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did" -- a law enforcement official explains Robert Aaron Long's decision to kill 8 people in a strange manner pic.twitter.com/u0zFcqjbNK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2021

Wednesday, Mar 17, 2021 · 9:19:44 PM +00:00 · annieli

Facebook confirms the social media post is fake: https://t.co/gs8a1hZSbC

— Jeong Park (@JeongPark52) March 17, 2021