Mass shooting suspect says attacks ‘motivated by anger at his sex addition’, police claim

A man charged with killing eight people at three different massage parlours in a horrific mass shooting did it to remove sexual temptation, police allege.

Robert Aaron Long killed eight people during a mass shooting event in Atlanta. Picture: Cherokee Sheriff's Office/AFP

A man accused of killing eight people and injuring another at three different massage parlours in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday night told police he committed the killings to remove sexual temptation, authorities have said.

Police arrested Robert Aaron Long, 21, from Woodstock, Georgia, alleging that he entered three different massage parlours on Tuesday and opened fire while inside.

Mr Long has been charged with eight counts of murder, according to USA Today. It’s expected he’ll be arraigned on Thursday morning.

It has been reported that Mr Long has admitted to the killings, telling police he was motivated by his “addiction to sex”. Police have since said they do not believe the killings were racially motivated. Of the eight people killed, six victims were Asian women.

Police have said that after speaking with Mr Long, they believe he viewed the three spas as “an outlet for him” to indulge his sex addiction, according to Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

“He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as … a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” Captain Baker said.

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Robert Aaron Long has been arrested in relation to the mass shooting. Picture: Cherokee Sheriff's Office/AFP

One of the three spas targeted in Tuesday’s mass shooting. Picture: Virginie Kippelen/AFP

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A former roommate also claimed Mr Long had previously spent time in a rehabilitation clinic for his addiction, according to CNN.

Authorities have said the investigation is ongoing and they’re yet to make an official determination of any motive for the attack.

Frank Reynolds, Cherokee County Sheriff, said the suspect may have a “sexual addiction” and “may have frequented some of these places in the past,” but said they were too early into their investigation to determine if racial hatred could have been involved.

He added that police believed Mr Long had visited the three spas regularly as a customer.

Mr Long had been travelling to Florida on Tuesday night when he was arrested. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a news conference that the suspect allegedly told police at his arrest that he intended to potentially “carry out additional shootings”.

Police said they believed he was headed to Florida to carry out attacks targeting “some type of porn industry”.

It is alleged that the gun used in the attacks had been bought just hours earlier by Mr Long, according to a report from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

People grieve at Youngs Asian Massage where four people were shot and killed. Picture: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images/AFP

Robert Aaron Long, 21, is accused of killing eight people in Atlanta Georgia on Tuesday night. Picture: Crisp County Sheriff's Office/AFP

Authorities were able to locate Mr Long after his own family contacted police when surveillance footage was shared on social media, County Sheriff Reynolds said.

“Shortly thereafter we were contacted by members of the family indicating that that may be their son, so we met with them,” he said. “They’re very distraught and they were very helpful in this apprehension.”

Mr Long was tracked via his mobile phone and police said he was arrested “without incident” after his vehicle was intercepted in Crisp County.

Of the eight killed, seven were women, and one was a man, according to authorities. Two of the victims were white.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the four victims who died at that location were: Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, Paul Andre Michels, 54, Xiaojie Yan, 49 and Daoyou Feng, 44, The Sun reports.

The one victim injured was also identified as Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30. She is in a stable condition.

South Korea confirmed four of the victims were of Korean descent.

Additional details of the victims have yet to be released.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said he considered the larger issue of brutality against Asian Americans “very troubling”.

The President said he was “very concerned because, as you know, I’ve been speaking about the brutality against Asian Americans for the last couple of months”.

Mr Biden said he couldn’t make a connection between this and the attack in Atalanta until the Justice Department concluded its investigation.

“I’ll have more to say when the investigation is completed,” Mr Biden said.