Atlanta massage parlors shooting suspect charged with murder; 911 audio released
The killings came as attacks against Asian Americans have continued to spike nationwide
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The man suspected of gunning down eight people Tuesday night in a series of Atlanta area shootings at three massage parlors has been charged with murder.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, faces four counts of murder and one count of assault in the shooting at a massage parlor in Cherokee County. The other victims were killed at two massage parlors in Atlanta, which makeup the other four murder counts for a total of eight.
Officials said they’re still investigating whether the killings were hate crimes amid a wave of attacks and harassment of Asian Americans nationwide. Six of the victims were Asian and seven were women. Authorities said Long told police that his actions were not racially motivated and that he potentially had a "sex addiction" and lashed out at what he saw were sources of temptation.
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ATLANTA MAYOR SPEAKS OUT AFTER MASS SHOOTING, CALLS ATTACKS 'A CRIME AGAINST US ALL'
Robert Aaron Long, suspected in a series of massage parlor shootings, was taken into custody in Crisp County, Ga., late Tuesday. He has been charged with murder for four of the eight killings. PHOTO: CRISP COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
After the chaos, Atlanta police officers checked on businesses near the two spas and increased patrols in those areas throughout the evening, Atlanta police Sgt. John Chafee told Fox News.
On Wednesday, the Atlanta Police Department released 911 audio recordings related to the massage parlor shootings in the city: the Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa, both on Piedmont Road.
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ATLANTA MASSAGE PARLOR SHOOTINGS: BIDEN BRIEFED ON DEADLY ATTACK AS DETAILS EMERGE
In the first call made at 5:47 p.m., a woman inside the Gold Spa is heard telling a dispatcher in a low voice that there was a robbery in progress. She appears to tell the dispatcher that she was hiding somewhere in the building.
"Where's the person who is robbing the spa? Where is he right now?" the dispatcher asks during the two-minute call.
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"I don't know. I'm hiding right now," the caller replies.
About 10 minutes after the first call was placed, a second one that lasted just over four minutes was made from a woman related to an incident at the Aromatherapy Spa.
The female caller said a friend called her and told her a guy entered the spa and fired a gun and that a lady was injured and people inside the business were hiding.
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Atlanta Police Department interim Chief Rodney Bryant, left, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, center, and Captain Jay Baker, of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, take questions during a press conference Wednesday at the Atlanta Police Department headquarters in Atlanta on the arrest of Robert Aaron Long. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
"They said some guy came in. ... We heard a gunshot and, you know, the lady's passed out in front of the door," the caller said. "And everybody is scared and everybody is hiding."
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Long, 21, was allegedly on his way to Florida at the time of his arrest Tuesday night and indicated he was potentially going "to carry out additional shootings." The attacks began when he allegedly shot five people at the Young's Asian Massage Parlor.
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Two died at the scene and three others were taken to a hospital. Two of the victims died there. The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office identified the victims as 33-year-old Delaina Ashley Yaun, 54-year-old Paul Andre Michels, 49-year-old Xiaojie Yan and 44-year-old Daoyou Feng.
The injured victim was a 30-year-old Hispanic man, authorities said.
Rita Barron, the store manager of a business neighboring the Young's Asian Massage Parlor said that security footage of the parking lot outside the stores showed the gunman had been sitting outside in his car for about an hour, just watching.
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Around an hour later after the first shooting, authorities responded to the Gold Spa in Atlanta and found three people suffering gunshot wounds. Across the street at the Aromatherapy Spa, responders found another two people injured after reports of gunshots there.
Fox News' Stephanie Pagones as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.