AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
- Local authorities offered details about how they tracked down suspected shooter Robert Long after shootings at three Asian massage parlors.
- Long's parents turned over a GPS tracking device that allowed police to locate Long's vehicle.
- Long is suspected of killing eight people, including six Asian women.
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On Wednesday, local authorities offered more details on how they caught Robert Aaron Long, the man who is suspected of targeting a string of massage parlors in Atlanta, and killing eight people, including six Asian women.
At a press conference, Cherokee County Sheriff Captain Jay Baker said that after the first shooting occurred at Young's Asian Massage in Acworth, authorities released a screenshot of Long from security camera footage.
Then, Long's parents called in and turned over a GPS tracking device that allowed police to locate Long.
Baker added that he was unsure why Long's parents were tracking him, but that the cooperation was key to tracking down Long in his Hyundai Tucson in Crisp County, 150 miles from Atlanta, and potentially staving off more attacks. Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms shared the sentiment at a conference Wednesday.
"This could've been significantly worse," Bottoms said. "It's very likely there would've been more victims."
He was reportedly on his way to Florida, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Baker said that as authorities responded to the first shooting and met with Long's parents, a call was made reporting a robbery at Gold's, a different massage parlor.
Police arrived to find four people killed at the two spas, before engaging in a short chase with Long as he headed south.
On Wednesday, Long was charged with four murder counts and one assault count in connection to the three attacks.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive, and when he was apprehended, Long told police that he was a regular at the three parlors, and had a sex addiction, according to Baker.
The attacks come in the wake of increasing attacks and hate crimes against Asian American communities over the last year. Stop AAPI Hate registered at least 3,800 attacks in 2020, at least a thousand more than the previous year, and the majority of which were directed towards Asian women.
Once in custody, Baker said that Long admitted to the killings to "take out that temptation," and stated that he was acting alone.