All victims identified, suspect disowned by church; Biden in Georgia says

The four victims who were killed at two spas in Atlanta were identified Friday by the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office: Soon C. Park, 74; Hyun J. Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Yong A. Yue, 63. 

Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said they still need to determine the motive, but that it was too soon to say whether the suspect "specifically targeted" victims. Authorities said Wednesday that Robert Aaron Long, 21, indicated he committed the shootings because of a sex addiction, but experts say it's hard to disentangle race from the killings. Long waived his right to an initial court appearance in Cherokee County on Thursday.

In records released to USA TODAY, police say a caller reported Long had been kicked out of his parent's home the day before the shooting and was "emotional." The report also says Long was recently furloughed from his job at a trade show business due to COVID-19. 

Authorities say the suspect opened fire at Young's Asian Massage in Acworth on Tuesday evening, killing four people and injuring a fifth, before driving 30 miles into Atlanta and killing four more people at two businesses, Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa. Long was arrested about 150 miles south of Atlanta. Police said he was heading to Florida and intended to carry out more shootings as spas there.

The church attended by Robert Aaron Long, the suspect charged in the eight killings, condemned the attacks and said it plans to remove the 21-year-old from its membership because it “can no longer affirm that he is truly a regenerate believer in Jesus Christ.”

Crabapple First Baptist Church in Milton, Georgia, said congregants were “distraught” when they learned the alleged shooter was a member of the community, a statement from the church said. His family has belonged to the church for many years.

"We watched Aaron grow up and accepted him into church membership when he made his own profession of faith in Jesus Christ," the statement reads. "These unthinkable and egregious murders directly contradict his own confession of faith in Jesus and the gospel."

Footage from previous sermons that have since been deleted from online postings show Long attending services and playing percussion during a service. It also shows him in attendance for a September 2020 sermon, where pastor Jerry Dockery said, "Radical feminism has engulfed our culture like a tsunami” and that “We’re propagating what Satan wants to accomplish." 

Footage of the sermon, obtained by Storyful, shows Dockery speaking about gender roles, that the role of men was to "lead" and the role of women, in scripture, was to be submissive, quiet and not "exercise authority over a man." He argued God has always been for equality and women should be partners and equals but that non-traditional roles were linked to Satan.

Tyler Bayless, who lived with Long at an addiction recovery facility in Roswell, Georgia, for at least six months through early 2020, described him as “a little bit socially awkward but not standoffish or quiet.” Long asked that he pray for him at least a couple of times, Bayless said, but never imposed his beliefs on others.

“He had some interesting religious beliefs, I’m sure, but he was never very overtly pushy about that sort of thing. Like he was never like, ‘I’ve got to save your soul,’” Bayless said.

Bayless recalled several occasions when Long said he lapsed and went to a massage business, prompting extreme self-loathing, guilt and public confession that he feared he might harm himself. Long once asked him to hold on to a hunting knife, Bayless added.

He said, ‘You know, I went to one of these places. I feel like I’m falling out of God’s grace,’” Bayless said.

“I mean, this was the kind of pain that he was in because of what his religious beliefs led him to think about the acts that he was engaging in.”

Bayless also said Long tried to limit his social media use to avoid what he saw as sources of temptation to sin.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday condemned racism against Asian Americans, days after a shooting deaths of six Asian American women in the Atlanta area. The act of violence has rocked Asian American communities, in Georgia and across the country, already frustrated with a lack of action on a surge of pandemic-related discrimination.

Biden and Harris, the first Asian American vice president, met with Georgia state legislators and Asian American and Pacific Islander advocates to listen to their perspectives on the rise in hate incidents targeting Asian Americans. 

'Our silence is complicity': Biden, Harris meet with Asian American advocates after Atlanta killings

“The conversation we had today with the AAPI leaders, and that we're hearing all across the country is that hate and violence often hide in plain sight,” Biden said during remarks after the listening session. It's often met with silence … but that has to change. Because our silence is complicity. We cannot be complicit.”

Harris, who introduced Biden, noted that “whatever the killer's motive,” the shooting “took place as violent hate crimes and discrimination against Asian Americans has risen dramatically over the last year.”

“Racism is real in America. And it has always been. Xenophobia is real in America, and always has been. Sexism, too,” she said.

Without naming former President Donald Trump, who often used racist language to describe COVID-19, Harris noted that “for the last year we've had people in positions of incredible power, scapegoating Asian Americans; people with the biggest pulpits, spreading this kind of hate.” 

Suspect was kicked out of parent's house night before attack, report says
Records from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office provide a glimpse into suspect Robert Aaron Long's life before the string of attacks that left eight people dead, including that the suspect had been furloughed from work and had been kicked out of his parent's house. 

The reports chronicle calls to the Sheriff's Office after the first shooting at Young's Asian Massage before Long is accused of driving to Atlanta, where police say he killed four others at two other massage parlors. 

After the Sheriff's Office released surveillance footage of the suspect, his family contacted the authorities, told them the suspect was their son and said they have a "tracker on his phone." Police used the tracking, through Long's family, to ultimately arrest him after the trio of shootings. 

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Soon after the call, authorities were alerted by another caller, who wasn't named in the report, that Long lives with his parents and had been "kicked out of his parents house last night." The report notes that Long was "emotional." 

Later as more calls poured in, two former coworkers called to report Long as the possible suspect. One of the callers said Long had been recently furloughed from his job at a trade show company due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Atlanta victim's son: 'This is something that should never happen to anyone'
In a GoFundMe page, Randy Park, who identified Grant as his mother, said the shooting has "put a new lens on my eyes on the amount of hate that exists in our world."

Park said his mother, whose maiden name was Kim, was a single mom raising two sons in the U.S. while the rest of his family is in South Korea. "She was one of my best friends and the strongest influence on who we are today," Park wrote.

Park told the Daily Beast that his mother loved “dancing and partying.” “She would always try to convince me to go out. She loved going to clubs. She loved Tiesto. She was like a teenager,” he told the outlet.

I'm 'afraid to leave my house': Asian women are living in fear
Jennifer Chung, a Korean American living in Atlanta, said she felt "numb" when she heard the news. At least four of the victims were women of Korean descent. 

"There's just been so much going on within our community all over, not just the U.S. but even the world," she said. "It's kinda morbid, but you're thinking it was just a matter of time for it to happen down the street from you."

Many Asian women are living in fear and have been long before the shootings Tuesday night that showed America the brutality of anti-Asian violence.

Experts say witnessing violence – or personally experiencing violence or harassment – can lead to trauma, which can cause a range of debilitating mental and physical health effects. For Asian women, the trauma is complex as it is often layered with racism, sexism and hyper-sexualization. Read more here.

– Sara M. Moniuszko

He was getting a back massage. Then the shooter walked in.
Marcus Lyon heard the first gunshot and bolted upright on the massage table. The woman who had just started massaging his neck looked at him and walked across the small room to open the hallway door. She dropped to the floor, blood pouring from her head.

Lyon jumped into his pants and raced out the door to his car parked outside Young's Asian Massage in Acworth, grabbing his own pistol, ready to fight off the shooter. The gunman was gone, and Lyon called 911. "I said you all need to come, people are dead.”

Lyon, a delivery driver, recounted the horrific moments a gunman who killed four people and injured one other inside the spa north of Atlanta started shooting.

“The whole time I was on the floor, I thought I was going to die," he said. "I’m just thankful I’m alive.”

– Trevor Hughes

Suspect 'frequented' Atlanta spas; authorities still investigating motive
Atlanta police confirmed Thursday that the suspect had been to the two spa locations in the city that he's accused of targeting. 

"I can say that he had frequented both of those locations," deputy police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said of Gold Spa and the Aromatherapy Spa, the two spas that became crime scenes Tuesday.

Hampton said authorities are still investigating the motive and added he couldn't say whether Long "specifically targeted" victims at those locations.

Visual timeline:Here's what happened at Atlanta spa shootings

Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds previously said that Long indicated he may have frequented some of the businesses and sai