Family feud, Seongchungdong, firearms… Atlanta shooting suspects

Conflicts with parents, sex addiction, and firearms are featured in local media reports related to the past actions of Robert Aaron Long, 21, a gun riot suspect in Atlanta, USA.

Atlanta shooting suspect Robert Aaron Long. [로이터=연합뉴스]

On the 17th (local time), according to local media such as CNN, Long was caught by a report from his parents. Long’s father, a pastor, contacted the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, after seeing footage of the incident on CCTV, and reported that his vehicle had a GPS tracker installed. In response, patrols in Georgia arrested Long, who was heading to Florida for further crimes after a 30-minute chase.

In this regard, one informant told CNN that “he was kicked out of his parents’ house the day before, and he was in a bad state.” CNN also quoted an official in the case, saying, “He watched pornography at home for a long time due to sexual impulse, and because of this, he had a bad relationship with his parents.” Sex addiction is a mental disorder in which you lose your ability to control behavior and become obsessive about sex.

Graphic image of the Atlanta Firearms Log.

He was reported to have been treated for sex addiction from August 2019 to early 2020 at a rehabilitation facility in Roswell, Georgia.

Tyler Baileys, who said he was in a rehab facility with Long at the time, told CNN that “he was a religious person and suffered from sexual problems.” In addition, according to the New York Times (NYT), in January 2019, after leaving “I am going to meet my girlfriend,” they said to their parents,’I will start a new life. He sent a text message saying,’I will not return,’ and the parents reported the disappearance, but they did not meet the conditions of the report, and the case was closed when he returned home.

Long’s high school classmates said, “I was a naive and geeky person,” and “I worked hard at church.” His introductory post on his social media, which has been turned private, says, “Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, God. Things that can summarize my life. Life is good.”

However, it turned out that Long’s “Chinese criticism” spread through SNS was not actually posted on Facebook, but by someone. Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said on the 17th, “The post was found to have been fabricated” to a question from a local reporter.

The Aroma Therapy Spa, one of three massage shops in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, killed 8 people, including 6 Asian people, in a shooting on the 16th. [로이터=연합뉴스]

However, it is pointed out that the motive for the crime should not be preliminarily defined only by his past actions.

Above all, it is necessary to keep an eye on what happened at the time of the incident that the place where Asian women were gathered was the target of the crime. Melissa May Borza, a religious scholar at the University of Michigan Department of Culture, said, “Even if he said he had no racial intent, he would have seen economically difficult Asians as easier crime targets.”

A protest against racism against Asians was held in Chinatown, Washington, DC, USA on the 17th (local time). A woman is walking with a sign with the phrase’Stop hating Asians’. [AFP=연합뉴스]

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said the spas committed by the suspect today were legally operated businesses and were not on the authorities’ crackdown.

Reporter Kim Hong-bum [email protected]