Robert Arron Long: Everything we know about the Atlanta massage shootings and the victims

The first victims have been identified in the fatal Atlanta massage parlor shootings that left eight people - primarily women of Asian heritage - dead.

Police and city officials released preliminary information regarding the alleged shooter, Robert Aaron Long, 21, the motives behind his attack, and the identities of some of the victims on Wednesday.

He was apprehended by police in the hours following the attack. He was taken into custody without incident.

What happened?

The attacks began around 5pm at a massage spa in Acworth, a suburb to the north of Atlanta. Four people were killed in that location.

Less than an hour later, another four women were killed in two shootings at separate spas in other parts of Atlanta.

According to police, authorities found two people dead at the Acworth location upon arriving, and three others who had been wounded. Two of those individuals died, and a third - a Hispanic man - had been wounded and was transported to the hospital.

While responding to the first shooting, police received a shots fired call from a second location - another massage spa - about 30 miles away. The call came in about 45 minutes after the first shooting.

At 5:45pm, a woman called 911 while hiding inside the second spa the shooter attacked. She told the dispatcher that she believed someone was robbing the spa and asked for police help.

“I'm hiding right now," the woman said on the call. "Please come, ok?"

About 10 minutes later another 911 call was made by another woman who said her friend had called her to tell her about a shooting at the spa.

"I just got a call from one of my friends and they say some guy came in ... and the lady's passed out," the woman said. "Everybody's scared so they're hiding."

Police found three women dead from gun shot wounds at the second location, and received another call of shots fired from across the street, where a fourth woman had been killed.

A manhunt ensued, and responding law enforcement agencies posted surveillance footage of Long on their social media pages, asking for help identifying the individual.

Eventually Long's parents realized their son was the suspected shooter and reached out to police.

Long's parents identified him to police, and told them he had a tracker on his car that could help officers track him down. It is unclear why the tracker was on the car or if Long was aware that the tracker was there.

Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds alerted the Crisp County Sheriff's Office that Long was likely headed that direction.

About an hour later and 125 miles south of Atlanta, Long was apprehended by police without incident after they spotted his vehicle on Interstate 75. A Georgia State Trooper used a PIT maneuver to physically stop Long's vehicle with his own.

Police said without the assistance of the parents it would likely have taken a much longer time to apprehend Long.

Law enforcement officers believe Long was headed to Florida, where he planned to continue his attacks. Long allegedly told police Florida was a hub for the porn industry, which was why he was seeking targets in the state.

“It really speaks to the coordination and the quick response from law enforcement, for as tragic as this was on yesterday for metro Atlanta, this could have been significantly worse,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms said. “It is very likely that there would have been more victims.”

The FBI joined the investigation late Tuesday.

The victims

The majority of the people killed in the shootings were women with Asian heritage. Seven of the eight victims were women.

South Korea's foreign ministry indicated that four of the women were of Korean ancestry.

Several victims were identified on Wednesday.

One of the women, Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, was killed while receiving a couple's massage with her husband. Her husband managed to escape. She was a mother of two.

“During a simple couples massage with her husband after work, Delaina Yaun lost her life after the parlor was shot up,” a GoFundMe page for the woman said. “Her husband made it safely out but she leaves behind two beautiful children Mia And Mayson.”

Xiaojie Tan, 49, was a licensed massage therapist and owned two massage parlors in the Atlanta area, including Young's Asian Massage, where the first shooting occurred.

Paul Andre Michels, 54, was the owner of an electric company. Mr Michels’ family, speaking to The Daily Beast, said he was a "staunch Republican" as well as a "baptised Roman Catholic," a veteran, and a gun owner.

Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, was the only survivor of the attack. He was wounded during the shooting, but survived and is recovering in the hospital. He was apparently visiting a nearby currency exchange when the shooting began.

Daoyou Feng, 44, was also killed. Investigators are still gathering information on Ms Feng.

The four women who were killed in the later two attacks have not been identified by police.

Police said that Long admitted to the shootings but said he was not specifically targeting people of Asian descent.

However, Atlanta Police Captain Jay Baker said that "nothing was going to be ruled out" and that investigators would follow whatever leads were present.

The killings came as anti-Asian hate crimes are on the rise. Stop AAPI Hate, an advocacy group drawing attention to hate crimes against Asians and individuals with Asian heritage, said there were nearly 3,800 attacks against over the last year.

Those attacks have been disproportionately against Asian women.

Reporters asked Ms Bottoms whether or not the massage spas were offering illegal sexual services.

Ms Bottoms said the city was unaware of any criminal activity happening at the locations and said the city and police department would not be engaging in any "victim blaming."

The gunman

Police believe Mr Long frequented the massage parlors that he attacked.

According to investigators, Mr Long said he had "some issues" including "sexual addiction" that motivated his attack.

Mr Baker said that Long described himself as having had "a really bad day" during which he was "fed up," leading to the attack.

Mr Long was apparently trying to remove the "temptation" of the massage parlors. The attacks he was allegedly planning in Florida were apparently targeting the porn industry, leading police to believe that sexual issues were the primary motivators in his attack.

Long allegedly told police that his attack was not racially motivated, despite six of the eight people murdered being of Asian heritage.

The Daily Beast reported that Long had an affinity for guns and was deeply religious.

The paper spoke with one of his classmates on condition of anonymity. The individual said Mr Long was a "nerdy" and "religious" person.

“He was very innocent seeming and wouldn’t even cuss. He was sorta nerdy and didn’t seem violent from what I remember. He was a hunter and his father was a youth minister or pastor. He was big into religion,” the student said.

The news outlet found a now-deactivated Instagram account apparently belonging to Mr Long, with a post that contained a caption stating his interest in guns and religious beliefs.

“Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life,” the caption said.

Long appeared in a 2018 video on the Crabapple First Baptist Church discussing his decision to be baptised.

Mr Long discussed his baptism as a child and explained how he related to the parable of the prodigal son, identifying as the son who left his father's home to live for himself. He said that realization led him to seek a second baptism as an adult.

Mr Long is currently being held in Cherokee County after being extradited from Crisp County.

Reaction to the shooting

The shooting prompted shocked responses from numerous organisations and individuals on Tuesday evening and throughout Wednesday.

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus said it was “horrified” by the shooting, noting it came “at a time when we’re already seeing a spike in anti-Asian violence.”

Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta, a legal advocacy nonprofit, issued a statement saying it was “shaken” by the shootings.

“Now is the time to hold the victims and their families in our hearts and with light,” the group wrote.

Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia issued a statement following the attack stating his sympathies for the victims and their families.

"My heart is broken tonight after the tragic violence in Atlanta that took eight lives. Once again we see that hate is deadly. Praying for the families of the victims and for peace for the community," he wrote.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp also issued a tweet expressing his sympathies.

"Our entire family is praying for the victims of these horrific acts of violence," he wrote.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting overnight, and said the administration was in contact with the FBI.

"White House officials have been in touch with the mayor’s office and will remain in touch with the FBI," she said.

Criticism of the police statements and subsequent media reports of the shooter's motives circulated on social media Wednesday. Some users claimed that it was irresponsible to say the shootings were not racially motivated when six of the eight people killed were Asian women.

Former Congresswoman Katie Hill said racism and misogyny were not mutually exclusive.

"You can be racist and sexist all at once. This was not “a bad day.” And an alleged sex addiction does not excuse or explain murder. This was a hate crime, rooted in misogyny and racism, period," she wrote.

Brandy Jensen, a columnist at Jezebel, equated the reporting and police press conference as "parroting a mass murderer."

"Credulously parroting a mass murderer's claims about his own motivations on the same day congress listens to a bunch of transphobes certainly highlights who it is we trust to give a faithful account of themselves," she wrote.

Karen K. Ho, a reporter at QZ, also voiced her frustration with the police account.

"Every time I see the clip again of the law official saying the shooter "had a bad day" my blood pressure spikes again because I remember how Asian women are not really allowed to be angry at work and several women were deemed "too emotional" for the US presidency."