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Robert Aaron Long, 21, has been identified as the Atlanta massage parlor shooting suspect.
On Tuesday, a rampage at multiple massage parlors in the Atlanta area left eight people — including six Asian women — dead. Long was arrested without incident Tuesday night and charged with murder.
While details about the suspect are continuing to surface, The Daily Beast reports the suspect had a passion for guns.
A student who graduated with Long from Sequoyah High School in 2017 said that Long was known as a “nerdy” and “very innocent-seeming” kid.
#BREAKING: 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, the accused gunman in today's Cherokee County spa shooting, has been apprehended in Crisp County, Georgia. The news comes as officials announce a fourth person has died: https://t.co/1spPrt8Hco pic.twitter.com/XnUnsUhWcw
— AJC (@ajc) March 17, 2021
“He was very innocent seeming and wouldn’t even cuss,” the unnamed student said. “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.”
Long is originally from Woodstock, Georgia and was identified as a suspect after being captured on surveillance camera entering the massage parlors in question.
An official motive has not been named at this time.
“We’re in the very early stages of this so we can’t make that determination just yet,” Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said.
The FBI has joined the Atlanta Police Department in the investigation.
The shooting spree comes at a time of increased anti-Asian crimes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
