ATLANTA (AP) – A man who survived the shooting that killed his wife at a massage shop in the Atlanta area said last week that police detained him in handcuffs for four hours after the attack.
Mario Gonzalez said he was detained in a vehicle outside the spa. The revelation, in an interview with Mundo Hispanico, a Spanish-language news site, follows other criticisms of Cherokee county officials investigating the March 16 attack, which killed four people. Four others were killed about an hour later, at two spas in Atlanta.
Gonzalez’s indictment would also mean that he remained in detention after police released security video footage of the alleged sniper and after authorities captured him 150 miles south of Atlanta. He questioned whether the treatment he received from the authorities was because he was Mexican.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment on Monday.
Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, is accused of shooting five people, including Gonzalez’s wife, Delaina Ashley Yaun, at the first crime scene near Woodstock, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Atlanta . A man was injured. In all, seven of the victims killed were women, six of them of Asian descent.
Captain Jay Baker of Sheriff Cherokee was removed as a spokesman for the case after telling reporters the day after the shooting that Long had “a very bad day” and “that’s what he did”. A Facebook page that appeared to belong to Baker promoted a racist-language T-shirt about China and the coronavirus last year.
Sheriff Frank Reynolds issued a statement acknowledging that some of Baker’s comments generated “a lot of debate and anger” and said the agency regrets any “headaches” caused by his words.
Gonzalez and Yaun, 33, arranged for a baby sitter for their young daughter and went to Youngs Asian Massage to relax. They were in separate rooms when the sniper opened fire.
Gonzalez heard the shots and worried about his wife, but was afraid to open the door, he told Mundo Hispanico in a video interview. The deputies arrived in minutes. Gonzalez said they handcuffed him and detained him for about four hours, according to the website.
“They kept me in the car the whole time they investigated who was responsible, who exactly did it,” said Gonzalez in the video.
During the interview with Mundo Hispanico, Gonzalez showed handcuff marks on his wrists. “I don’t know if it is by law or because I am Mexican. The simple truth is that they treated me badly, ”he said.
“Only when they finally confirmed that I was her husband did they tell me that she was dead,” he said. “I wanted to know earlier.”
Left alone to raise his daughter and his wife’s teenage son, Gonzalez said the shooter took “the most important thing I have in my life”.
“He deserves to die, just like the others,” said Gonzalez.
Authorities said the shooting in Cherokee County took place around 5 pm and, shortly after 6:30 pm, the sheriff’s office posted static images of a surveillance camera on Facebook showing a suspect in the parking lot outside. Reynolds said Long’s family recognized him from the images and gave investigators the information from his cell phone, which they used to track him.
Crisp County sheriff Billy Hancock said in a video posted on Facebook that night that his deputies and state police officers were notified around 8 pm that the suspect was coming his way. Deputies and soldiers rode along the interstate and saw the black Hyundai Tucson 2007 at around 8:30 pm. A soldier performed a maneuver that caused the vehicle to spin out of control and Long was taken into custody.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Warren contributed to this report.