Prosecutor seeks death penalty for Atlanta spa shooting suspect
Cherokee County Sheriff s office
Robert Aaron Long, Georgia massage parlors shooting suspect.
ATLANTA, Georgia Robert Aaron Long, the suspect in the shootings that left eight people dead at three Atlanta-area Asian spas, has been indicted on murder charges, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty for hate crimes targeting the sex and race of the victims, according to a source familiar with the criminal investigation.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed notice Tuesday that she plans to seek the death penalty and enhanced hate crimes charges against Long in the first test of the hate crime law passed by the Georgia Legislature last year, according to the source.
Georgia District Attorney Intends to File Hate Crime Charges Against Robert Aaron Long
On 5/11/21 at 3:19 PM EDT
A Georgia district attorney intends to file hate crime charges against Robert Aaron Long, 22, who is accused of shooting and killing eight people, including six Asian women, at massage spas in the Atlanta area on March 16. Long was indicted Tuesday on murder charges.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking the death penalty, which goes against a statement she made last year at a candidate forum during her campaign for district attorney in which she said she would refuse to seek the death penalty as a sentence, the
The indictment charges Long with four counts of murder, 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, according to online records.
It will be up to a separate grand jury in Cherokee County to decide on charges in the shooting at a spa near suburban Woodstock in which four were killed and one person was wounded.
Willis‘ decision to seek the death penalty is a departure from her stance during her campaign to be district attorney last year.