Police say that accused mass killer Robert Aaron Long reportedly murdered at least eight people because of his “sex addiction” — and not because some of the victims were of Asian descent.
What’s a brief history here?
Long, of Woodstock, Georgia, reportedly opened fire on Tuesday night at three different spas in the Atlanta area, killing eight people.
Six of those people were identified as Asian women, and authorities said they were not ruling out the possibility of a hate crime at that time.
Authorities took Long into custody Tuesday night on murder charges following the rampage.
Following the killings, #StopAsianHate began trending across social media platforms and politicians and celebrities alike called for an end to race-based violence.
What are the details?
On Wednesday, ABC News reported that Long blamed his “addiction to sex” as to the motive behind the slayings.
In a statement, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said, “Long confessed to the shootings in Cherokee County and Atlanta.”
“Long told investigators that he blames the massage parlors for providing an outlet for his addiction to sex,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement, places he may have “frequented” in the past.
“Long told investigators the crimes were not racially motivated,” the statement added.
During a news conference, Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department added, “The suspect did take responsibility for the shooting.”
“It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” Baker noted.
What else?
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) said that Long was reportedly trying to flee to Florida, where the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said that there was “some type of porn industry in that state” and that Long purportedly “wanted to do some similar act in that location.”
Long remains in custody at the time of this reporting.
Robert Aaron Long | What we know about the Atlanta spa shootings suspect
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