The shootings that killed eight people Tuesday were roughly 30 miles apart at three massage parlors in Cherokee and Fulton counties. A suspect was later captured about 150 miles south of Atlanta.
4:50 p.m.: A man investigators believe was Robert Aaron Long pulled up to Young’s Asian Massage Parlor near Acworth in a dark-colored Hyundai SUV, according to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. Surveillance cameras captured the man going into the business, located near the intersection of Bells Ferry Road and Ga. 92. Inside the business, five people were shot, Capt. Jay Baker said. Four people were killed. Cameras then captured the same man leaving the business.
5:47 p.m.: About 30 miles away, Atlanta officers were called to a report of a robbery at The Gold Spa, located at 1916 Piedmont Road. Inside, officers found three women dead from gunshot wounds, according to Sgt. John Chafee. While investigating that incident, officers were told shots were fired across the street at the Aromatherapy Spa. There, investigators found another woman shot to death. At a press conference within two hours of the shootings, Interim Chief Rodney Bryant said Atlanta officers were working with Cherokee investigators to determine if the incidents were related.
8 p.m.: Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds alerted law enforcement in central Georgia that the suspect was believed to be traveling south on I-75. About 150 miles south of Atlanta, the 2007 black Hyundai Tucson was spotted by Crisp County sheriff’s deputies and the Georgia State Patrol. State troopers performed a PIT maneuver to stop the SUV. (The Precision Immobilization Technique, as it’s officially known, is an intentional wrecking of a car being chased; it is sometimes employed by authorities pursuing a suspect who won’t stop). The driver, Long, was arrested and booked into the Crisp County Detention Center.
