Convicted spa shooter’s admissions will be used in Fulton County death penalty case

ATLANTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Attorneys for Robert Aaron Long, the convicted 2021 spa shooter, tried unsuccessfully to exclude his admissions of guilt immediately after he was arrested in Cherokee County.

Long is already serving life in prison without the possibility of parole but has pleaded not guilty to four killings in Fulton County.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking the death penalty in Long’s case under Georgia’s hate crimes statute. All four of the Fulton County victims were Asian women.

Fulton County Chief Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville - who famously presided over the internationally watched trial of superstar rapper Young Thug before being recused - presided over the hearing.

Long was convicted of murder after pleading guilty in Cherokee County. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace did not pursue hate crimes charges, pointing out that one of the victims there was Hispanic and another was white.

Most of Monday’s motions hearings centered on whether Long had been given proper legal representation in the hours immediately after his arrest. Daran Burns, a Canton, Georgia attorney, testified he attempted to represent Long before he was questioned by Cherokee County police and its district attorney.

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But Glanville denied Long’s attorneys’ attempts to exclude his admissions.

At 2 p.m., on March 16, 2021, Long, then 21, bought a gun and ammunition from Big Woods Goods in Holly Springs, Georgia. Long’s plan, he would later tell the police, was to commit suicide. Instead, he then drove to a liquor store and purchased bourbon.

Then, Long drove to Youngs Asian Massage Parlor near Acworth in a dark Hyundai SUV. Outside, he sat in his vehicle and drank the bourbon before going inside. At 4:54 p.m., Long began shooting, killing four people and injuring a fifth. Surveillance cameras captured him leaving the business.

At 5:47 p.m., Atlanta police responded to a robbery report at the Gold Spa on Piedmont Road, about 30 miles away. Police found three women shot to death. Then police were told that shots had been fired across the street at the Aromatherapy Spa. There, police found another woman shot to death.

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At 8 p.m., Sheriff Frank Reynolds, sheriff of Cherokee County (where the first shootings had taken place), contacted law enforcement in central Georgia and said the suspect was believed to be driving south on I-75. Crisp County deputies spotted Long’s SUV, and Georgia State Patrol troopers stopped Long’s vehicle using a PIT maneuver. He was arrested and booked and later returned to Cherokee County.

Six out of eight of the victims were of Asian descent. The killings sparked nationwide conversations about race and hostility toward Asian Americans during a time when numerous attacks against Asians and Asian Americans were being reported across the country.