The first shooting happened just before 5 pm. March 16 at Young’s Asian Massage near Woodstock, Georgia, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta.
The shooting left four dead – two were declared dead at the scene and two others died in the hospital. One person was also injured, said the Cherokee County sheriff’s office.
Authorities responded to the scene by reports of a shootout.
About an hour later, three people were found dead at the Gold Massage Spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta, said police chief Rodney Bryant.
A person was also found dead at the Aroma Therapy Spa across the street.
Atlanta’s two spas are on a stretch of Piedmont Road, off Interstate 85. About a dozen other spas are located less than a kilometer from Gold Massage and Aroma Therapy.
What is known about the victims?
The four killed in the shooting near Woodstock were Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, from Atlanta; Xiaojie Tan, 49, from Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44.
The injured survivor was Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, from Acworth, officials said.
Atlanta’s four victims were: Soon C. Park, 74; Hyun J. Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Yong A. Yue, 63, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Of those four, three died of gunshot wounds to the head and one died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the coroner’s office said.
Four of the dead were ethnic Korean, according to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, which said it was in contact with its consulate in Atlanta.
What led to Long’s arrest?
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office identified Long, 21, from Woodstock, as a suspect.
Before identifying him, Cherokee County investigators found a surveillance video of a suspect near the first scene and posted it on social media.
Long’s family saw the image and helped authorities identify it, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said on March 17.
Investigators tracked Long’s phone, and Reynolds contacted authorities in Crisp County, far south, to inform them that he appeared to be going in that direction, Reynolds said.
Long’s vehicle was located, a chase took place on Interstate 75 in Crisp County, and a state police officer performed a maneuver that left the SUV out of control, officials said.
Police arrested Long and confiscated a 9 mm gun from his vehicle, Cherokee County officials said.
Video evidence – including that showing Long’s vehicle in the Atlanta shooting area – suggests that Long is responsible for the Atlanta killings, police said.
Long took responsibility for the Cherokee County and Atlanta shootings, said Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
He was detained on March 17 in Cherokee County on four counts of murder and one of aggravated assault, said the sheriff’s office. He also faces four counts of murder in Atlanta, according to city police.
What did the authorities say about Long’s intentions?
Authorities said the motive is under investigation.
But Atlanta police chief Rodney Bryant said it was too early to know why.
“There is still a lot of work to be done … we just haven’t gotten there yet,” said Bryant on March 17.
Atlanta spas were “legally operating businesses” that were not on the authorities’ radar, said Bottoms.
He had frequented the two Atlanta spas a long time ago and bought the gun used on the day of the incident, said Deputy Chief of Police Charles Hampton Jr. on March 18.
Long told investigators that the murders were not racially motivated, Cherokee County sheriff’s office said.
Where did Long go before he was arrested?
“It is very likely that there were more victims,” said Bottoms.
Long told investigators he was going to Florida and “would do more acts” there, Cherokee County Sheriff’s captain Jay Baker said on March 17.
What did Long’s relatives or acquaintances say about him?
A lot of time went into rehab for sexual addiction last year, a former roommate told CNN on March 17.
The roommate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he lived with Long for several months in the summer of 2020 in a transition home for people who were leaving rehab. He declined to identify the transition home or say what condition it was in.
Long didn’t talk about his addiction, said his roommate, but he looked better when he left the transition home. The roommate said he had not been in contact with Long “in a long time”.
Long seemed to have “self-hatred,” said the roommate.
But on the whole, he said, Long looked kind and used to cook for his friends. The roommate also said he “never heard him say anything racial”.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me,” said the roommate about the shooting.
“It was something that would definitely torture him,” said Bayless. He said Long was a “deeply religious person – he was often confused about his interpretation of the Bible” and was disturbed by his addiction to sex.
Bayless said that on several occasions during his stay at the establishment, Long told him that he “had a relapse” and “went to massage parlors explicitly to engage in sexual acts”.
Long “may have frequented some of these places in the past,” said Reynolds, referring to filming locations. It is not clear whether any of the three companies offered sexual services in addition to massages. But the authorities gave no indication that any of the sites were operating illegally.
“We are not about to blame the victim, to embarrass the victim here,” said Bottoms. “We don’t know any additional information about what (Long’s) motives were, but we certainly won’t start blaming the victims.”
CNN went to Long’s grandparents’ house in Morristown, Tennessee, on March 17. “All I want to say is that he is our grandson and we still love him very much,” said Long’s grandmother, Margaret Long, who was visibly upset.
Long’s grandfather interrupted the conversation, saying that they had been instructed not to speak.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled Xiaojie Tan’s surname based on information provided by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
CNN’s Casey Tolan, Audrey Ash, Amanda Watts, Jamiel Lynch, Madeline Holcombe, Holly Yan and Erica Henry contributed to this report.