2021 Atlanta spa shootings

2021 Atlanta spa shootings
2021 Atlanta spa shootings
	Young's Asian Massage parlor (second from right), where the first shooting took place (pictured 2018)
Location	Atlanta and unincorporated Cherokee County, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates	34°05′18″N 84°34′52″W / 34.0882°N 84.5811°W; (first shooting, unincorporated Cherokee County); 33°48′35″N 84°21′58″W / 33.8096°N 84.3662°W; (second shooting, in Atlanta); 33°48′37″N 84°21′57″W / 33.8102°N 84.3658°W; (third shooting, in Atlanta); 31°51′17″N 83°43′08″W / 31.8547°N 83.7189°W; (perpetrator captured, in unincorporated Crisp County);
Date	March 16, 2021 ; c. 4:50 p.m. EDT (20:50 UTC)
Target	Spas and massage parlors
Attack type	Mass shooting; femicide; mass murder; shooting spree;
Weapons	9mm SAR semi-automatic pistol
Deaths	8
Injured	1
Perpetrator	Robert Aaron Long
Motive	Disputed Conflict between the perpetrator's sex addiction and his religious beliefs (claim by perpetrator); Anti-Asian racism (claim);
Verdict	Pleaded guilty in Cherokee County murders; Fulton County trial pending
Convictions	Malice murder (x4), felony murder (x4), aggravated assault (x4), and 11 other convictions (Cherokee County)
Charges	Domestic terrorism, malice murder (x4), felony murder (x4), aggravated assault (x4), and 6 other related charges (Fulton County)
Sentence	Four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 35 years (Cherokee County)

On March 16, 2021, a shooting spree occurred at two spas and a massage parlor in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Eight people were killed and a ninth was wounded. The suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, was taken into custody later that day. Long pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Long told police he was motivated by a sexual addiction that was at odds with his Christianity, for which he had spent time in an evangelical treatment clinic, and that he had been targeting establishments where he had previously paid for sex. While six of the eight people killed were women of Asian descent, Long denied that race had played any role in the killings, which was questioned by numerous organizations such as the CAPAC, CAA and NAPAWF, U.S. politicians Marilyn Strickland and Bee Nguyen, as well as by the South Korean media and the victims' families.

Long was charged with 19 crimes in Fulton County and 23 crimes in Cherokee County. He pleaded guilty to the Cherokee County charges and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The shooting was one of the main incidents that gave rise to the Stop Asian Hate movement, against the backdrop of rising anti-Asian sentiment in the country.