Atlanta spa shooting suspect indicted on murder charges, prosecutors seek death penalty
The suspect who allegedly shot and killed eight people at Asian spas in the Atlanta area has been indicted on murder charges, according to CNN.
Robert Aaron Long is also facing the death penalty for hate crimes targeting the victim’s sex and race, according to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. It would be the first case under Georgia’s hate crime law that legislatures passed last year, per CNN.
The 21-year-old is suspected of shooting at the Atlanta area spas on March 16. Seven of the victims killed were women, with six of them being Asian women.
RELATED: Lawmakers react to Atlanta spa shootings, rising violence against Asian community
Sources told CNN that Long was indicted on 19 counts in Fulton County, including four charges of felony murder, four charges for malice murder, five charges for aggravated assault, five charges of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and one charge for domestic terrorism, CNN reported.
Following his arrest, he reportedly told law enforcement officials that he suffered from sex addiction, had issues with porn and saw the spas as “a temptation … that he wanted to eliminate,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker previously said.