Suspect in shooting spree at Atlanta spas indicted on murder charges

Atlanta, Georgia - The suspect in a string of deadly shootings at spas in Atlanta, Georgia, was indicted on domestic terror and murder charges on Tuesday, with prosecutors saying they will also seek hate crime charges and the death penalty.

Flowers and memorials were placed outside Youngs Massage Spa, a week after eight people were shot to death at three Atlanta area massage spas.
Flowers and memorials were placed outside Youngs Massage Spa, a week after eight people were shot to death at three Atlanta area massage spas.  © IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

Robert Aaron Long has been accused of killing eight people, six of them Asian women, in the March shootings at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area.

Two of the shootings were at spas across the street from each other in north-east Atlanta, part of Fulton County, and one about 30 miles north in Cherokee County.

Delaina Ashley Yaun (33), Paul Andre Michels (54), Xiaojie Tan (49), Daoyou Feng (44), Hyun Jung Grant (51), Suncha Kim (69), Soon Chung Park (74), and Yong Ae Yue (63) died in the horrific attack.

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On Tuesday, two separate grand juries, Cherokee County's and Fulton County's, indicted Long on charges including domestic terrorism, murder, felony murder, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis also said she will seek the death penalty and enhanced hate crimes charges against Long in the first test of a hate crime law passed by the Georgia Legislature last year "based on the race and gender of the victims."

"This is the first time that the statute has been used in Fulton County and, it is my belief, in the state," Willis said in a press conference.

Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

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