8 killed in shootings at Atlanta-area spas

According to Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, most of the victims in Tuesday’s shooting in Georgia were Asian, and two were White. 

In total, eight people were killed in Atlanta and Cherokee County.

“Just to be clear, our victims – I know that, obviously, Atlanta, all their victims were Asian – two of our victims were white,” Baker said during a Wednesday briefing. 

“We had two Asians and two Whites that were killed at our location,” he explained. 

Earlier in the briefing Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said regardless of the motivation of this crime:

Officials stressed that it is still early in the investigation and nothing can be ruled out at this point.

Police have not yet offered a motive in the shootings.

Officials today gave a chronological order of events that unfolded on Tuesday night in the Atlanta area, where eight people – including six Asian women – were shot dead at three metro Atlanta spas. One suspect is in custody, authorities said.

Cherokee County, Georgia, Sheriff Frank Reynolds says his department got a call about a shooting at about 4:55 p.m. ET.

At 5:47 p.m. ET,  police responded to a robbery call at 1916 Piedmont Road, where they found three women shot. While investigating that incident, they received another call about an incident at 1907 Piedmont Road, where they found another women shot, another law enforcement official said.

"Both locations were massage parlors. At that time, we recognized that we had had information previously put out by Cherokee County that they had a similar incident in their jurisdiction," he said.

When police put the information about the suspect on social media, the suspect's family members got in touch.

"Shortly thereafter, we were contacted by members of a family, indicating that that may be their son. So we met with them. I was there speaking with the family. They're very distraught and they were very helpful in this apprehension," he added.

Law enforcement was then able to track the suspect's phone, anticipating his movements. Crisp County police intercepted him in coordination with state patrol.

"They initiated a traffic stop and then immediately pitted the vehicle. After the vehicle was pitted, the suspect was taken into custody without further incident and transported to the Crisp County jail," a state patrol official said. 

The suspect was interviewed by the Cherokee County police, Atlanta police and the FBI on Tuesday night and remains at Cherokee County adult detention center, Reynolds reported.

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Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds told reporters that the family of suspected spa shooter Robert Aaron Long turned him into authorities Tuesday. 

During a Wednesday news conference Reynolds said once police responded to the scene of the shooting at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth, they were able to identify a suspect through surveillance video and put the images on social media. 

“Shortly thereafter we were contacted by members of the family indicating that may be their son, so we met with them,” Reynolds said. 

Reynolds said he spoke to the family directly. 

Reynolds said once they identified Long as a suspect, they were able to track his phone and anticipate his movements allowing for his eventual apprehension in Crisp County.  

Reynolds called the apprehension the result of a “coordinated effort” by the various departments and Georgia State Patrol. 

Reynolds said officers hit Long’s vehicle “to prevent a pursuit.”

President Biden said he will be addressing a multiple shooting incident in Atlanta later Wednesday. 

"I'll be talking about that in a minute – I'll be back out,” he told reporters over the roar of Marine One on the South Lawn as he returned from Delaware.

Eight people were shot dead at three metro Atlanta spas on Tuesday. Six were Asian women, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. 

Police have not yet offered a motive in the bloody attacks, but because of many of the victims' backgrounds, some public officials and organizations have raised concerns that ethnicity came into play. It comes amid an alarming spike in violence directed at the Asian American community in recent months.

It's unclear what time specifically Biden will be back to address this – the next item on his public schedule is a 1 p.m. ET bilateral meeting with the Irish Taoiseach. 

Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said the 21-year-old suspect in custody "may have frequented" some of the spas.

Speaking at a news conference with other Georgia officials, Reynolds said:

However, the sheriff stressed that it is still early in the investigation and nothing can be ruled out at this point.

Police have not yet offered a motive in the shootings.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said today that police determined the Atlanta spa shooting suspect was on his way to Florida "perhaps to carry out additional shootings."

She commended law enforcement for their coordination and quick response in apprehending the suspect.

"This could have been a significantly worse," Bottoms said.

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Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said investigators are not ready to say yet whether or not the shootings are being considered as a hate crime. "We are still early in this investigation, so we cannot make that determination at this moment," the chief said at a press conference today.

He continued: "Again, we are very early in this investigation. Even though we've made an arrest, there's still a lot more work to be done."

“I know that that's going to be a concern and that you're probably asking that of many of us, we're just not there, as of yet.”

The press conference is ongoing.

Atlanta Mayor mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant and other officials are now giving an update on Tuesday night's spa shootings in the Atlanta area.

Eight people – including six Asian women – were shot dead at three metro Atlanta spas. One suspect is in custody, authorities said. 

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that he "won't comment on the tragedy" in the Atlanta are because it is under investigation, but he did say domestic violence extremism is the greatest threat of terrorism the US is facing.

Mayorkas said in his opening statement that "the most significant terrorist threat facing our nation comes from lone offenders and small groups of individuals who commit acts of violence."

He said added these ideologies are spread "by false narratives, conspiracy theories, and extremist rhetoric usually spread through social media and other online platforms."