Robert Aaron Long

Robert Aaron Long was born on April 6, 1999, in Woodstock, Georgia, and was raised in a conservative Christian household in the suburban Atlanta area. He attended Sequoyah High School, graduating in 2017, and later enrolled at the University of North Georgia’s Cumming campus, where he studied intermittently between 2017 and 2018 but did not complete a degree.

Long was deeply involved in evangelical Christianity from an early age and was an active member of Crabapple First Baptist Church in Milton, Georgia. Friends, family members, and religious associates later described him as socially withdrawn, emotionally troubled, and increasingly consumed by guilt related to sexuality. Long openly described himself as suffering from what he called a “sex addiction,” a condition not formally recognized in the DSM‑5 but often discussed in evangelical treatment contexts.

Prior to the shootings, Long spent time at HopeQuest, an evangelical residential treatment facility near Acworth, Georgia, where he sought help for compulsive sexual behavior. According to roommates and court testimony, he frequently expressed intense shame, self‑loathing, and fear of spiritual damnation, particularly after relapsing by visiting massage parlors where sex work was allegedly offered. His parents later stated that they had expelled him from their home the night before the attack due to concerns about his behavior and pornography use.

On March 16, 2021, Robert Aaron Long carried out a coordinated shooting spree targeting three massage businesses in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Earlier that afternoon, Long legally purchased a 9mm handgun and ammunition in Holly Springs, Georgia. He then drove to Young’s Asian Massage near Acworth in Cherokee County, arriving shortly before 3:00 p.m.

After sitting in his vehicle for nearly an hour, Long entered the business at approximately 3:38 p.m. EDT. Inside, he shot and killed Paul Andre Michels, Daoyou Feng, Xiaojie Tan, and Delaina Ashley Yaun González, while also seriously wounding another man who survived. Two of the victims died at the scene, while two later died from their injuries. Law enforcement received the first emergency calls shortly before 5:00 p.m.

Long then drove approximately 30 miles south to Atlanta, where he targeted two additional spas along Piedmont Road. At Gold Spa, police discovered the bodies of Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Soon Chung Park, all fatally shot. Minutes later, officers responded to a call across the street at Aromatherapy Spa, where Yong Ae Yue was found dead from gunshot wounds. Surveillance evidence and witness testimony indicated that Long acted quickly and methodically, speaking little or not at all during the attacks.

The eight people killed were Delaina Ashley Yaun González, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Paul Andre Michels, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Soon Chung Park, and Yong Ae Yue. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent, a fact that placed the killings at the center of a national reckoning over anti‑Asian violence amid the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Following the shootings, Long fled south on Interstate 75. Using surveillance footage and a tracking system installed in his vehicle, law enforcement located and arrested him near Cordele, Georgia, approximately three and a half hours after the first shooting. A Georgia State Patrol PIT maneuver was used to stop his vehicle, and a handgun was recovered inside.

During police interviews, Long waived his Miranda rights and confessed to the killings. He stated that his motive was to eliminate sexual temptation rather than racial animus, a claim disputed by civil rights organizations, prosecutors in Fulton County, victims’ families, and international observers. While Cherokee County prosecutors stated they found insufficient evidence to classify the crime as racially motivated, Fulton County prosecutors later announced they would pursue hate crime enhancements and the death penalty, citing race and gender as motivating factors.

On July 27, 2021, Long pleaded guilty to all charges in Cherokee County and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He later pleaded not guilty to the Fulton County charges, where capital punishment remains a possible outcome.