Unsettling questions surround the motive behind the Atlanta-area spa shootings as Asians in the US face increased hate
At least two of the eight people killed at Atlanta-area Asian massage spas Tuesday lived in the same spa where they worked, Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen said.
“This one fact alone highlights the vulnerability, the invisibility, and the isolation of working-class Asian women in our country,” Nguyen said at a Thursday news conference.
“When they go missing, or when they die, the loss of their lives will not incite the same kind of rage. And they won’t even be treated with the same humanity,” she said. “And in this case, they’ve been characterized as a problem that needed to be eliminated.”
Across the US, many Asian Americans are living in fear as unprovoked attacks against them intensify.
Authorities have not yet confirmed a motive for the shootings at three Atlanta-area spas, which killed eight people, including six Asian women.
“Can you imagine living in a spa being between the ages of 50 and 70 years old and getting gunned down?” Nguyen asked.
Suspect Robert Aaron Long, 21, faces eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Long was on his way to Florida, potentially to take the lives of more victims.
The suspect told police he believed he had a sex addiction and that he saw the spas as “a temptation … that he wanted to eliminate,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said at Wednesday’s news conference.
But Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said it is still too early to know a motive behind the devastating violence.
And for Asians and Asian Americans facing increased incidents of hate in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the attacks and questions around their motivations only exacerbate existing fears.
“As we have learned details of the event unfold, I still believe that this is a racially motivated crime,” Nguyen told CNN.
The way race intersects with their gender makes Asian and Asian American women uniquely vulnerable to violence, said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.
In addition to being fetishized and sexualized, Asian women — often working in the service sector — are subject to the same racism that affects Asian Americans more broadly, experts said.
“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,” said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of Southern Poverty Law Center.
8 people killed across 30 miles
Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, deputies were called to Young’s Asian Massage between the Georgia cities of Woodstock and Acworth after reports of a shooting, Cherokee County sheriff’s officials said.
That shooting left four people — two Asian and two White — dead and one person injured, Baker said. Two of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while the other two died at a hospital.
Those killed included Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta; Xiaojie Tan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44.
The injured survivor is Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, authorities said.
About an hour later and 30 miles away, Atlanta police responded to what was described as a robbery at the Gold Massage Spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. Police said they found three people dead.
While there, police received another call of shots fired across the street at the Aroma Therapy Spa, where they found one person dead, Bryant said.
The names of those four victims have not yet been released by authorities.
Investigators found surveillance video of a suspect near the Cherokee County scene and published images on social media.
Long’s family saw the images, contacted authorities and helped identify him, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said Wednesday.
“(The family members) are very distraught, and they were very helpful in this apprehension,” Reynolds said.
‘It would be appropriate’ if the suspect was charged with a hate crime, mayor says
Long has claimed responsibility for the shootings in Cherokee County and in Atlanta, the Cherokee County sheriff’s office said.
He is facing four counts of murder and a charge of aggravated assault, according to the county sheriff’s office. He also has been charged with more four counts of murder, Atlanta Police Department said.
Bottoms added that she thought “it would be appropriate” if Long was charged with a hate crime.
“Sex” is a hate crime category under Georgia’s new law. If Long was targeting women out of hatred for them or scapegoating them for his own problems, it could potentially be a hate crime. The shootings don’t have to be racially motivated to constitute a hate crime in Georgia.
A law enforcement source told CNN on Wednesday that Long was recently kicked out of the house by his family due to his sexual addiction, which, the source said, included frequently spending hours watching pornography online.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Xiaojie Tan’s last name based on information provided by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
