[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] On March 16, a 22-year-old white male, Robert Aaron Long, who shot at two spas and a massage parlor in Atlanta, USA, killing a total of eight people including four Korean Americans, has been sentenced to death, AP News reported on the 11th (local time).
The grand jury of Fulton County, Georgia (a government administrative unit) decided to indict Long and charged him with murder, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm, and domestic terrorism.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis expressed her intention to apply hate crime charges against Long and seek the death penalty, explaining that the hate crime charges are based on the victims' race, nationality, and gender, according to AP. She also described each shooting murder as "heinous, absolutely intolerable, horrific, and inhumane," even using the phrase "moral depravity."
On March 16, Long carried out shootings at two spas in downtown Atlanta and one massage parlor in Cherokee County near Atlanta. Eight people died and one was injured in this incident. Four people died at the two Atlanta spas, all of whom were Korean American women. At the Cherokee County massage parlor, two Asian women and two white individuals were killed, and one person was seriously injured.
Long was arrested by police who responded after his parents reported him while he was driving on the highway in his car following the crime.
AP reported that the indictment includes the crimes at the two Atlanta spas that took the lives of four Korean Americans. The four shooting murders in Cherokee County are not included. Separate judicial proceedings are underway in Cherokee County for that case.
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