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Death penalty sought over US spa shootings

Kate BrumbackAAP
Robert Aaron Long allegedly claimed to have a "sex addiction" after the massage parlour shootings.
Camera IconRobert Aaron Long allegedly claimed to have a "sex addiction" after the massage parlour shootings. Credit: AP

A man accused of killing eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, in shootings at three Atlanta-area massage businesses has been indicted on murder charges by two separate grand juries, and one prosecutor filed notice that she will also seek hate crime charges and the death penalty.

A Fulton County grand jury indicted Robert Aaron Long, 22, over the March 16 killings of Suncha Kim, 69, Soon Chung Park, 74, Hyun Jung Grant, 51, and Yong Ae Yue, 63.

A separate grand jury in Cherokee County indicted him for a separate shooting that resulted in the killings of Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49, Daoyou Feng, 44, Delaina Yaun, 33, and Paul Michels, 54.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed notice that she intends to seek hate crime charges and the death penalty against Long, who is white.

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The hate crime charges are based on the actual or perceived race, national origin, sex and gender of the four women killed, the notice says.

The Fulton County indictment charges Long with four counts of murder, four counts of felony murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon, four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and one count of domestic terrorism, according to online records.

Police say Long shot and killed four people, three of them women and two of Asian descent, at Youngs Asian Massage near Woodstock just on March 16. He also shot and wounded a fifth person, investigators said.

He then drove about about 50 kilometres south to Atlanta, where he shot and killed three women at Gold Spa before going across the the street to Aromatherapy Spa and fatally shooting another woman, police say.

All the Atlanta victims were women of Asian descent.

After the shootings, Long allegedly got back into his car and headed south.

His parents called authorities to help after recognising their son in images posted by police on social media.

They provided mobile phone information that allowed authorities to track their son to rural Crisp County, about 225km south of Atlanta.

In an initial interview with investigators, Long claimed to have a “sex addiction”, and authorities said he apparently lashed out at businesses he viewed as a temptation.

But those statements spurred outrage and widespread scepticism given the locations and that six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent.

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