The recent spree-mass shootings in Georgia (USA)

RECLAIMING ALM

Mar 27, 20213 min read

What happened?

On March 16th, a man named Robert Aaron Long (21), went into Young's Asian Massage- which is a massage parlor in Atlanta. Surveillance footage showed that he was sitting in the parking lot for about an hour, then entered the building, where he then remained for over an hour. The police has yet to comment on what he was doing during that time. 10 minutes after Long left, 911 calls were made, reporting the shooting to Cherokee County Sheriff's Office 4 minutes after that. When police arrived, Long was already gone. Two people were fatally shot, three others were wounded. Two of the wounded later died at the hospital. One of the victims who died, had her husband, Mario González, detained for 4 hours as the police assumed he was the perpetrator (which he wasn't).

A while later, reports came in about another incident, this time at Gold Massage Spa. When the police arrived, they found three victims dead from gunshot wounds. A few minutes later, they received reports about another shooting across the street, at Aromatheraphy Spa, where another victim was killed.

Long's parents were in touch with the police already during the first shooting, after the surveillance footage was released. During the interview, his parents informed them of what vehicle he was driving. Long was apprehended about 3.5 hours after the shootings took place, and was taken into custody. A 9mm semi-automatic pistol was found in his car. A total of eight people were murdered, six of them Asian, and one person was injured.

What was the motive?

Long claimed that he was "suffering from a sex addiction", which he was reportedly being "treated" for. He also claimed that he had "relapsed" and that he therefore wanted to "visit the sex workers at the spas". However, witnesses have stated that Long said "I'm going to kill all Asians".

Aftermath:

Captain Jay Baker of Cherokee Country Sheriff's Office said "he was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope, and I guess it was a really bad day for him and this is what he did"- instead of saying it like it is: it was a hate crime. It was later discovered that the captain had also posted anti-Asian sentiments online, thereby questioning how he would handle the investigation. On March 18th, Baker was formally removed as part of the investigation, said Sheriff Reynolds.

The mass shooting has resulted in long overdue attention to anti-Asian hate crimes, with [peaceful] protests, news, posts on media etc. President Joe Biden gave a speech condemning the rise of hate crimes against Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that he is in favor of a newly proposed act aimed at tackling anti-Asian hate crimes. The case itself is still under investigation, as Long waived his right to appear at his first court appearance at March 18th, thus cancelling the arraignment. Several donations, by wonderful people and companies, have been made to the Asian-American community, the victims and the families of the victims to show support.

Victims: