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The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
CASIS Hot Brief 0016-2021
2021/04/20
Disclaimer: This 5TA contains summaries of open sources and does not represent the views of the Canadian
Association for Security and Intelligence Studies.
ATLANTA MASSAGE PARLOR SHOOTINGS AND ANTI-ASIAN TARGETING
1. Three potentially premeditated shootings occurred in succession in Acworth,
Georgia, and two in succession in Atlanta, Georgia on March 16, 2021 (Appendix
Figure 1, 3, 5; Choiniere, 2021a; Choiniere, 2021b). The suspect, Robert Aaron
Long, attacked Young Asians Massage Parlor, Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa
sequentially and attempted to flee further south (Appendix Figure 1; Choiniere,
2021b; Fausset & Vigdor, 2021; Romo, 2021). The 3 shootings resulted in eight
deaths (6 Asian, 1 hispanic, 1 Caucasian) by the time Long was apprehended and
arrested by Crisp County sheriff's (Appendix Figure 4; Choiniere, 2021b; Romo,
2021).
2. Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year old Generation Z (Gen Z) actor (born between 1993-
2012) is described as devoutly religious by former high school peers and was a
hunter who claimed to be a fan of firearms on social media (Choiniere, 2021b;
Dimock, 2019; McLaughlin et al., 2021; Romo, 2021). Long may have confessed
to sex addiction and was possibly a patron of the massage parlors he targeted to
explicitly engage in sexual acts after relapsing during treatment (McLaughlin et al.,
2021; Vera & Hanna, 2021) Long claimed he had been reborn a second time during
a second baptism at the Crabapple First Baptist Church in 2018, possibly a
motivating factor to seek sex addiction treatment and attacking the massage
parlours may have been due to a relapse (Appendix Figure 2; Choiniere, 2021b;
McLaughlin et al., 2021; Montgomery et al., 2021).
3. Atlanta Police possibly believe that Long specifically targeted Asians at the
massage parlors with 6 of 8 victims appearing to be women of Asian descent
(Montgomery et al., 2021; Romo, 2021). Long may have targeted the parlors as
he had relapsed during his sex addiction treatment and sought to eliminate the
sources of his temptation (Appendix Figure 2; McLaughlin et al., 2021; Vera &
Hanna, 2021). The suspect was possibly motivated by the increase in anti-Asian
hate crimes attributed to anti-Asian sentiments and association with the COVID-
19 pandemic (BBC, 2021; Reinstein, 2021).The anti-asian sentiments were
The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
probably worsened by Trump’s labelling of COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus” or
“Wuhan Virus'' (Guardian staff, 2020, para. 3).
4. The Gen Z group has arguably been the newest wave of violent actors, possibly
more vulnerable to radicalization on the internet through social media, online
gaming and chat rooms that may incite escalations to soft and kinetic violence
(Baldet, 2021; Chavez & Political Science Sophomore, 2020). There have been
recent incidents involving Gen Z as violent actors such as Joshua Doctor, Riley
Williams, and Dimitrios Pagourtzis (Bellingcat, 2021; Shamsian, 2021). Joshua
Doctor, a 21-year old Gen Z, Michigan native, was arrested on March 16, 2021 for
uttering death threats against US President, Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, and Governor Gretchen Whitmer (Shamsian, 2021). Additionally, Riley
June Williams, a 22-year old Gen Z, Pennsylvania native, stole Nancy Pelosi’s
laptop during the January 6 Capitol Hill riot (Bellingcat, 2021). Williams was active
on online forums and chat rooms where she arguably propagated fascist and neo-
Nazi content before the Capitol Hill riot (Bellingcat, 2021). Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a
Gen Z Sante Fe native, born in 2000, attacked his school and murdered 10
classmates he did not like and spared those he did on May 18, 2018 (Frosch et
al., 2018).
5. Alternate perspectives can be considered that Long is potentially a white
supremacist actor who could have anti-immigration or anti-minority sentiments or
be a copy-cat serial killer. Long could be a copycat white supremacist actor who
may intentionally have committed his shootings the day after the anniversary of
the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings (Associated Press, 2021). From the
white supremacist perspective, Long could possibly be anti-immigration or anti-
minority, given that he targeted Asian Massage Parlors and Asian victims to likely
preserve white supremacy or the white race (Romo, 2021). Long may also have
imitated serial killers such as Gary Ridgway and targeted women he considered to
be sex-trade workers or vulnerable victims (Tikkanen, 2021).
The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
CASIS Vancouver specializes in examining Violent Transnational Social Movements
and the different ideologies that overlap an array of ideological segments. VTSM theory
suggests that violent extremists are socially radicalized self-actualized individuals who
arguably are radicalized through a societal normalization of extremist language and
sentiments (Kelshall, 2021). Whereby self actualised actors want to impose legitimacy,
dominance, authority, and supremacy over other identity groups using soft and kinetic
violence as their main tools (Kelshall, 2021).
The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
APPENDIX
Figure 1
Google. (n.d.). Young’s Asian Massage to Gold Massage Spa. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Young's+Asian+Massage,+Highway+92,+Acworth,+
GA/Gold+Massage+Spa,+Piedmont+Road+Northeast,+Atlanta,+GA/@33.9411059,-
84.593786,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x88f56a5cbe00de4f:0x5442
d2ffa5fa7a1b!2m2!1d-
The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
84.5811519!2d34.0882683!1m5!1m1!1s0x88f505ce465b8a79:0x703dbf71f35d4e2b!2
m2!1d-84.3662027!2d33.8095424?hl=en.
Figure 2
Crabapple First Baptist Church. (2018). A now-deleted Facebook post from the
Crabapple First Baptist Church showing Robert Aaron Long, discussing his baptism
and what faith means to him in 2018 [Picture]. New York Post.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/17/video-shows-robert-aaron-long-years-before-alleged-
atlanta-spa-rampage/.The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
Figure 3
Cherokee County Sheriff. (2021). Surveillance footage from the scene of the
Cherokee County shooting; Robert Aaron Long [Picture]. Heavy.
https://heavy.com/news/robert-aaron-long/.The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
Figure 4
Crisp County Sheriff. (2021). Suspected Atlanta gunman Robert Aaron Long seated in
a cop car following his arrest [Picture]. New York Post.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/georgia-gun-laws-allowed-robert-aaron-long-to-quickly-
buy-gun/.The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
Figure 5
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. (2021). Spa killing suspect | Robert Long [Picture].
KHOU 11. https://www.khou.com/article/news/national/spa-killings-atlanta-
cherokee/85-d8b55ae6-d3e5-44d2-975c-6334bcd27633.The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
REFERENCES
Baldet, W. (2021, February 3). Tackling Online Radicalization at Its Offline Roots.
Vox Pol. https://www.voxpol.eu/tackling-online-radicalization-at-its-offline-
roots/.
BBC. (2021, April 3). Covid 'hate crimes' against Asian Americans on rise. BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684.
Bellingcat. (2021, February 24). Woman accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi’s
laptop appears in video making Nazi salute. Bellingcat.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2021/02/24/woman-accused-
of-stealing-nancy-pelosis-laptop-appears-in-video-making-nazi-salute/.
Chavez, D., & Political Science Sophomore. (2020, May 14). LTTE: The
radicalization of generation Z. The Sunflower.
https://thesunflower.com/50979/opinion/ltte-the-radicalization-of-
generation-z/.
Choiniere, A. (2021a, March 16). Photo: Manhunt for suspect after shootings at
spas in Atlanta, Georgia. Heavy. https://heavy.com/news/atlanta-spa-
shootings-photo-suspect-georgia/.
Choiniere, A. (2021b, March 16). Robert Aaron Long identified as suspect in
Woodstock, Cherokee County, Georgia shooting. Heavy.
https://heavy.com/news/robert-aaron-long/.
Dimock, M. (2019, January 17). Defining generations: Where millennials end and
generation Z begins. Pew Research Center.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-
and-generation-z-begins/.
Fausset, R., & Vigdor, N. (2021, March 16). 8 people killed in Atlanta-area
massage parlor shootings. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/us/atlanta-shootings-massage-
parlor.html.
Frosch, D., & Aliworth, E. & Malas, N. (2018, May 19). Texas Shooter Spared
Students He Liked, Court Document Says. The Wall Street Journal.The Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver
info@casisvancouver.ca | @casisvancouver.ca
https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-shooter-spared-students-he-liked-
court-document-says-1526735627.
Guardian Staff. (2020, June 21). Donald Trump calls Covid-19 'kung flu' at Tulsa
rally. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-
news/2020/jun/20/trump-covid-19-kung-flu-racist-language.
McLaughlin, E. C., & Tolan, C. & Watts, A. (2021, March 17). Robert Long,
suspect in Atlanta spa shootings, may have 'sex addiction,' police say.
CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/17/us/robert-aaron-long-suspected-
shooter/index.html.
Montgomery, B., Cruz, C., & Ibrahim, N. & Olding, R. (2021, March 17). Massage
Parlor Massacres Suspect Said He Loved Guns & God. Daily Beast.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/seven-killed-in-shootings-at-atlanta-
spas?ref=home.
Reinstein, J. (2021, March 16). There have been at least 3,795 hate incidents
against Asian Americans during the pandemic, a new report shows.
BuzzFeed News. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/anti-
asian-racist-hate-incidents.
Romo, V. (2021, March 16). Eight people shot to death at Atlanta massage
parlors; Man arrested. NPR.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/16/978024380/eight-women-shot-to-death-at-
atlanta-massage-parlors-man-arrested.
Shamsian, J. (2021, March 16). A Michigan man was charged with making death
threats to Biden, Pelosi, and Whitmer on a meme website. Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.com/joshua-doctor-charged-death-threats-
biden-pelosi-whitmer-michigan-meme-2021-3?r=MX&IR=T.
Tikkanen, A. (2021, February 14). Gary Ridgway. Brittanica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gary-Ridgway.
Vera, A., & Hanna, J. (2021, March 17). Here's what we know about the metro
Atlanta spa shootings that left 8 dead. CNN.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/16/us/metro-atlanta-spa-shootings-what-
we-know/index.html.You can also read
