Guns, God, racism, and misogyny
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As I’ve pointed out before, between 1950 and 1980 America saw a total of one mass shooting incident that left eight or more people dead (the University of Texas tower shooting).
Since then there have been dozens.
A Georgia man who professed a passion for guns and God was in custody on Tuesday night after a string of shootings that police said appeared to target Asian women at massage parlors and left eight people dead.
Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, Georgia, was caught on video at the crime scenes and later nabbed on a highway two hours south of Atlanta following a police chase, authorities said.
Police stressed that it was still much too early to announce a motive, but the horrific attacks come amid a wave of targeted violence against the Asian-American community.
Details about the suspect that began to trickle out offered few clues.
“Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life,” read the tagline on an Instagram account that appeared to belong to Long.
A student who graduated from Sequoyah High with Long in 2017 who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Daily Beast, “He was very innocent seeming and wouldn’t even cuss. He was sorta nerdy and didn’t seem violent from what I remember. He was a hunter and his father was a youth minister or pastor. He was big into religion.”
The rampage began at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth in Cherokee County, where two people were killed, one other person succumbed to their injuries en route to a nearby hospital, and one died while in treatment, according to the sheriff’s office. One other person was injured in the shooting, a spokesman for the sheriff said.
About an hour later and 30 miles away, two spas on the same Atlanta street—Gold Spa and one in Aroma Therapy Spa—were targeted by gunfire, and four Asian women were killed.
Officers had just arrived at one of the spas to find the victims when they were summoned to the second.
“While at [the first location] we received another call across the street of shots fired, and responded to find another individual shot at that location,” Atlanta Police Chief Rodney N. Bryant told reporters.
While no details about the Acworth victims were given, Bryant said that “it appears that all the [Atlanta] victims are female” and “it appears that they may be Asian.” . . .
Cherokee County Sheriff ’s Capt. Jay Baker told reporters: “Nothing is going to be ruled out. Wherever the investigation leads us, that”s where we are going to go.” Atlanta police said video surveillance of Long’s car at all three massage parlors captured Tuesday night made it “extremely likely” he was the main suspect in all three shootings.
President Joe Biden recently condemned the surge in crimes of hate, which have included a brazen, deadly assault on an 84-year-old from Thailand who was killed on a morning stroll in the San Francisco Bay Area. In testimony to the Georgia State Senate the day before the shootings, Michelle Au, a Democratic state senator representing Johns Creek, GA, said, “In the last year, 32 incidents of hate crimes towards our Asian-American and Pacific Islander community here in Atlanta have been reported…. Recognize that we need help, we need protection, and we need people in power to stand up for us against hate.”