Atlanta shooting suspect indicted for murder, with prosecutor to seek hate crime charges and death penalty
- Robert Aaron Long, 22, is accused of killing eight people, including six Asian women, in a shooting spree at three massage parlours
- Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis says Long, who is white, had targeted victims because of their race, national origin, sex and gender
The man accused of killing eight people in a shooting spree in Georgia targeted most of his victims because they were of Asian descent, a prosecutor said on Tuesday, saying that she would be seeking the death penalty against the suspect.
Robert Aaron Long, 22, is the suspected gunman in all of the killings, six of whom were women of Chinese or Korean descent, in three attacks at massage businesses in the Atlanta area on March 16.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said on Tuesday that the grand jury had indicted Long on four murder charges for two attacks in Atlanta in which Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; and Yong Ae Yue, 63, were killed.
The Fulton County grand jury also handed up 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, records showed.
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Atlanta shootings: suspect claims deadly attacks not racially motivated
In a court filing, Willis said that Long, who is white, had targeted the four victims in Atlanta because of their race, national origin, sex and gender. Willis said she would pursue additional hate crime penalties if Long is found guilty of murder.
