Atlanta spa shootings suspect charged with murder
The alleged gunman who killed eight persons at therapeutic massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia, has been charged with murder as police get started to identify victims.
Officials cannot yet confirm if the assault, where six Asian women were killed, was first racially motivated. Four victims had been named on Wednesday.
The suspect faces multiple counts of murder and aggravated assault.
Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds stated the suspect might have been a patron and claimed to have a "sex addiction".
The attack comes amid a sharp uptick in crimes against Asian-Americans.
Four of the victims have already been discovered as Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; and Daoyou Feng, 44. Elcias R Hernandez-Ortiz was recognized as having been wounded.
In a news conference on Wednesday, investigators explained suspect Robert Aaron Long admitted to the shooting spree, and stated that he denied that the attack was motivated by competition.
Mr Long has been charged with 4 counts of murder and a person count of aggravated assault, in line with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department.
"He apparently comes with an concern, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these spots mainly because a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate," stated Capt Jay Baker, adding that Mr Long was captured with a 9mm handgun and didn't resist arrest.
Massage parlors are recognized to sometimes provide prostitution solutions, but authorities express there is no indication yet that is the case at the targeted locations.
"They are legally operating businesses that have not been about our radar," said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who added that the town would not take part in "victim shaming, victim blaming".
Police also noted it really is still prematurily . in the investigation to definitively express a motive and that the suspect seemed to have already been acting alone.
Ms Bottoms said that he was on his method to Florida, possibly to commit even more shootings, when he was arrested.
The suspect's parents helped to recognize him, officials told reporters.
According to CBS News, the suspect told investigators that "he loved God and guns".
The first happened at about 17:00 (21:00 GMT) on Tuesday at Young's Asian Massage in Acworth, Cherokee County.
Two persons died at the picture and three were taken to hospital, where two more died, sheriff's business office spokesman Capt Baker said. He soon after confirmed the victims were two Asian women, a white female and a white man, and stated a Hispanic man have been wounded.
Less than one hour later, law enforcement were called to a good "robbery in progress" at Gold Spa in north-east Atlanta. In the documenting of the 911 phone produced on Wednesday, a female tells the dispatcher that she's hiding from the assailant.
"Have you got a explanation of the man?" the operator asks.
"We're hiding at this time," the girl replies. "They possess a gun."
"Please come, ok?" she says.
When authorities attained the spa, "officers found three females deceased in the location from apparent gunshot wounds", police said.
While right now there, officers were called to a spa next door, called Aromatherapy Spa, where they found an other woman shot dead.
On another 911 call, a female tells the operator that she got a call from a pal who said a guy had entered the spa and fired a gun.
"They said some dude came in... We noticed a gunshot and the lady's passed out in front of the entranceway," she says. "And everybody is scared and everyone is hiding."
Investigators who have had studied CCTV footage then released pictures of a good suspect near one of the spas. Police explained that, after a manhunt, Robert Aaron Long, of Woodstock, Georgia, was arrested in Crisp County, about 150 kilometers (240km) south of Atlanta.
Authorities found in South Korea said these were attempting to confirm the nationalities of the a number of females of Korean descent.
