Georgia man pleads guilty to killing four people in Atlanta spa shootings

A Georgia man pleaded guilty to four of the eight deaths in multiple Atlanta-area spa shootings Tuesday. Robert Long was given four life sentences, but avoided the death penalty following the plea. The video above shows the sentence being handed down by Cherokee County Superior Court Chief Judge Ellen McElyea.

Police have said the attacks began when Long shot and killed four people at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County last March. He also shot and wounded a fifth person, according to police. Long then allegedly drove south to Atlanta, where he shot and killed three women at Gold Spa before going across the street to Aromatherapy Spa and killing another woman.

The plea deal in Cherokee County was for charges of malice murder, felony murder, attempt to commit murder and aggravated assault.

He still faces the death penalty if he is convicted of the Atlanta killings. He is also facing hate crime and domestic terrorism charges in Atlanta. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent.

Despite this, the prosecutor said Cherokee County investigators saw no evidence of racial bias.

“All of the evidence that was gathered with regard to Cherokee County, your honor, came to the same conclusion, that this crime was not motivated by a bias or hate against Asian Americans,” District Attorney Shannon Wallace said.

She went on to say Long was motivated by a “sex addiction” and his desire to eliminate sources of his temptation.

The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize sex addiction in its main reference guide for mental disorders. Symptoms related to sex addiction are often linked to other recognized disorders or moral views about sexuality.

“These sexual behaviors getting this label are a symptom, not a cause,” said David Ley, clinical psychologist and author of “The Myth of Sex Addiction.”

State Rep. Bee Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American to serve in the Georgia House, said the shootings appeared to be at the “intersection of gender-based violence, misogyny and xenophobia.”

Long is scheduled to appear again next month in Fulton County.