Atlanta, Georgia – After a series of deadly attacks on massage parlors in the Atlanta area, a 21-year-old suspect has been charged with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault, but questions remain as to the motive behind the killing spree.

On Wednesday, eight people were shot dead in three separate massage parlors in Georgia. One man survived with serious injuries.

Six of the people who died were Asian women, CNN reported.

Police arrested a 21-year-old white man named Robert Aaron Long, who is suspected of committing the attacks. The incidents have sparked speculation that the perpetrator's motive was race-related.

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Georgia State House Representative Bee Nguyen told CNN, "When we learned about this last night, we were horrified and the sinking feeling that I had was this had to be a crime related to AAPI [Asian American and Pacific Islander] hate. As we have learned details of the event unfold, I still believe that this is a racially-motivated crime."

Margaret Huang, President and CEO of Southern Poverty Law Center, echoed this fear in a statement: "While we're relieved the suspect was quickly apprehended, we're certainly not at peace as this attack still points to an escalating threat many in the Asian American community feel today."

However, Atlanta police were quick to point out that it is still too early to determine the motive for the crime.

That warning didn't stop Cherokee Sheriff Office's spokesperson Captain Jay Baker from making his own remarks on the issue.

At a press conference, Baker said Long claimed the shootings were "not racially motivated," Yahoo! News reported.

Instead, the police captain proffered another explanation: "[Long] apparently has an issue, what he considers sex addiction and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places, and it's a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate. Like I said, it's still early on, but those were comments that he made."

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The statement seems to imply that the victims were sex workers, which has not been confirmed and doesn't change the fact that eight lives were taken.

"It sounds to me like these locations, he sees them as an outlet for him," Baker continued, providing an in-depth analysis of the suspect's supposed mental state. "That it's something that he shouldn't be doing and an issue with porn, and that he was attempting to take out that temptation."

He added that Long was having a "really bad day" when he allegedly carried out the attacks.

Baker's credibility has been called into question after it came out that he had been promoting anti-Asian t-shirts on social media.

Despite the captain's statements to the contrary, many remain convinced that anti-Asian hate played a role in the crimes.