Atlanta Shooting: 21-year-old accused of killing 8 people

At least eight people, most of them Asian women, were killed in a shooting spree at three different spas in the U.S. state of Georgia on Tuesday, with a 21-year-old white man is taken in custody on suspicion of carrying out all three attacks, the police said.

The shooting took place with many Asian Americans already on the move after a recent increase in hate crimes against the community and caused immediate fear that businesses run by Asians were deliberately singled out.

Four of the deceased were killed at Young's Asian Massage near Acworth, a suburb of the Georgia capital Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reported.

Captain Jay Baker of the Sheriff of Cherokee County told the newspaper the victims were two Asian women, a white woman, and a white man, while a Spanish man was wounded.

The Atlanta Police Department has separately confirmed that four women were found dead in two places in northeast Atlanta, recognized as the Gold Massage Spa and Aroma Therapy spa.

Police told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that all 4 of the victims of Atlanta were Asian women. Baker did not say whether investigators suspect the Asian Americans were specifically targeted. "Nothing is going to be ruled out," he said.

"We are carrying out a homicide, a multiple homicide investigation. Wherever the evidence leads us, this is where the investigators will go. '

Authorities have recognized Robert Aaron Long as a suspect in all three shootings.

Atlanta police spokesperson Sergeant John Chafee told the AFP news agency, according to the pattern of the surveillance video of the shooting scenes, "It is likely that our suspect is the same as Cherokee County, who is in custody." "We are operating closely with them to make sure our business is connected," he added.

Long was arrested after a "short chase" about 240 kilometers from Atlanta, according to a declaration by the Georgia Department of Safety on Facebook. The city police department described the scene in northeast Atlanta: "Upon arrival, officers located three females at the location due to apparent gunshot wounds."

While at the scene, officers were notified of shots fired across the street, where they found a fourth female victim. The FBI is assisting with the investigation; a spokesman told AFP.