On March 16, , a shooting spree occurred at two spas and a massage parlor in the metropolitan area of Atlanta , Georgia, United States. Eight people were killed and a ninth was wounded.
A suspect, year-old Robert Aaron Long, was taken into custody later that day. Long told police he was motivated by a sexual addiction that was at odds with his Christianity , for which he had spent time in an evangelical treatment clinic, and that he had been targeting establishments where he had previously paid for sex.
Long was charged with 19 crimes in Fulton County and 23 crimes in Cherokee County. He pleaded guilty to the Cherokee County charges and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The shooting was one of the main incidents that gave rise to the Stop Asian Hate movement, against the backdrop of rising anti-Asian sentiment in the country. On the morning of the day of the shooting, the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, watched pornography on his cell phone from about AM to noon.
When he left his room around noon, his housemate confronted him outside about what he heard. He asked the suspect if he wanted to talk about what just happened. The suspect told the housemate that he didn't want to talk about it and left the house around 1 PM. At this moment, he decided to commit suicide out of shame. At approximately 2 PM, the suspect legally purchased a 9mm handgun and a box of 50 bullets at a firearms store in Holly Springs. He also purchased a bottle of bourbon at a liquor store in Holly Springs.
