At least eight people were shot dead Tuesday at three spas in the Atlanta area. One suspect has been arrested in connection with one of the shootings and Atlanta police said it is “extremely likely” that he is also the suspect in the other two shootings.
Around 5 p.m., a shooting at Young’s Asian massage in Cherokee County killed four people, two of whom died after being taken to a hospital, according to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. A fifth victim was injured and was also taken to a hospital.
Three people were later shot dead at Gold Spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. While officers responded to the scene, they received another call to shoot on Aromatherapy Spa Street, where they found another person who had been shot dead.
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Atlanta police chief Rodney Bryant said the four victims of the shootings on Piedmont Road were women and “look Asian.”
The South Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed to CBS News that at least four of the eight victims were of Korean descent.
Cherokee County Police have identified 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock as a suspect in Young’s Asian massage shooting. Long was arrested Tuesday night in Crisp County, Georgia.
He was arrested without incident around 8:30 p.m. after Georgia State Patrol personnel carried out a PIT maneuver “which caused the vehicle to go out of control,” according to the Sheriff’s Office. Crisp County.
In a statement Tuesday night, Atlanta police said, “Video footage from our Video Integration Center places the Cherokee County suspect’s vehicle in the area, around the Piedmont Road shootings. .This, along with video evidence seen by investigators, suggests it is very likely that our suspect is the same as Cherokee County, which is under arrest. “
The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement saying, “The president has been briefed overnight on the horrific shootings in Atlanta. White House officials have been in contact with the White House office. ‘mayor and will keep in touch with the FBI. “
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Tokyo, offered his condolences and told reporters, “We are horrified by this violence, which is not taking place in America or anywhere else. … We will defend the right of our fellow Americans, Korean Americans, to be safe, to be treated with dignity. “
The governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, a Twitter he thanked law enforcement for the “rapid arrest of a suspect” and said, “Our entire family is praying for the victims of these horrific acts of violence.”
Senator Raphael Warnock he tweeted“My heart is broken tonight after the tragic violence in Atlanta that lasted eight lives. Once again we see that hatred is deadly. Praying for the families of the victims and for the peace of the community.”
Crisp County Sheriff’s Office
The New York Police Department said that “out of great caution,” the NYPD’s Critical Response Command has been deployed to Asian communities across New York City in response to Tuesday’s shootings.
“The shooting of several Asian American women today in Atlanta is an indescribable tragedy, especially for the families of the victims, but also for the Asian American community, which has been subjected to high levels of racist attacks throughout from last year, “Stop AAPI Hate, an organization that seeks to raise awareness about anti – Asian discrimination throughout the pandemic, said Tuesday night in a statement.
The organization noted that it was not yet clear whether the shootings were “hate-motivated,” but added, “This latest attack will only aggravate the fear and pain that the American Asian community continues to endure.”
CBS News Pat Milton, senior producer of the research, contributed to this report.