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the georgia prosecutor seeks death penalty for the convicted sex-addict gunman who murdered eight in asian-run massage parlors in the atlanta

Atlanta prosecutors will seek hate crime charges and the death penalty for a man accused of killing eight people at three day spas in the area in March.

District Attorney Fani Willis has filed court papers declaring her intent to seek the death penalty and designating the case as a hate crime based on race or gender, prosecutors said at hearing Monday before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville in Atlanta.

Robert Aaron Long, 22, is accused of killing a total of eight people in March - four at two different day spas in Atlanta and four at a day spa in Acworth, about 33 miles north. 

He has already received four life sentences for the four killings in Cherokee County, where parts of Acworth are located.

Robert Aaron Long, 22, is accused of killing eight people at three day spas in Georgia in March

Robert Aaron Long, 22, is accused of killing eight people at three day spas in Georgia in March

He has already been given four life sentences for four of the killings in Cherokee County

Long had been scheduled to be arraigned on Monday on the four Atlanta murder counts and other charges, but that was postponed until late September.

Sporting close-cropped hair instead of the mohawk he had worn in a previous court appearance, Long mostly sat in silence during the hearing. He quietly responded 'yes, sir' to the judge when asked if he understood the hearing.

Six of Long's victims were Asian, and the March attacks galvanized an awareness of a wave of anti-Asian bias and violence across the United States during the coronavirus pandemic, which is believed to have originated in China.

In a court hearing in Cherokee County last month, Long showed little emotion as he described how he purchased a firearm and a bottle of bourbon and set out to kill himself, claiming to feel remorseful for a self-proclaimed sex addiction.

Fulton County DA Fani Willis will seek the death penalty and hate crime charges during another trial in Atlanta, where two of the spas Long targeted are located

Long has blamed his sex addiction and self-hatred for the killings. Above, a makeshift memorial outside of the Cherokee County day spa where he killed four people on March 16

Long has blamed his sex addiction and self-hatred for the killings. Above, a makeshift memorial outside of the Cherokee County day spa where he killed four people on March 16

Having been kicked out of his parent's home and despondent over his 'sexual struggles', Long told the court that he went to the spa on March 16 to 'act out, receive sexual favors and hopefully hate myself enough to...end my own life.' 

Instead, he said he decided to carry out the spa shootings. 

In a packed court room, Long told Judge Ellen McElyea he had been kicked out of his parent's home two weeks before the shooting for paying for sex at a spa in Fulton County, where Atlanta is. His parents found out due to a tracking app on his phone.

Long also talked about his addiction to pornography. McElyea asked Long why he felt so much anguish over something that many people view on a regular basis.

'It is taking something that is made for a monogamous relationship and making sport of it,' Long replied.

Tyler Bayless, 35, previously told Reuters that he spent several months living at an Atlanta halfway house called Maverick Recovery for recovering addicts with Long.   

He said Long had been treated for sex addiction and that he frequented massage parlors for 'explicitly sexual activity.' Bayless said Long was 'deeply religious' and would become 'very emotionally distraught that he frequented these places.'

A woman wipes her eyes during Long's court hearing on Monday in downtown Atlanta

A woman wipes her eyes during Long's court hearing on Monday in downtown Atlanta

'In the halfway house he would describe several of his sexual addiction "relapses" as he called them. He would have a deep feeling of remorse and shame and say he needed to return to prayer and to return to God,' he said.

Long would later tell the court that his mind 'felt blank' after firing the first shot.

Officers said they found Robert Aaron Long thanks to help from his parents, who recognized him from surveillance footage posted by authorities and gave investigators his cellphone information. 

Long received four sentences of life in prison without parole last month for the shootings of Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Yan, 49; and Daoyou Feng, 44.  

The wife of Paul Michels told the court she had looked forward to growing old with her late husband, who she described as outgoing and a workaholic.

'I can't hear his voice anymore. I can't give him hugs and kisses. A part of me died with him,' Bonnie Michels said from the witness stand. 'Why did he kill my husband for no reason?' 'He shot without a word, no warning.'

In Fulton County, he is charged with the killings of Yong Ae Yue, 63; Soon Chung Park, 74; Suncha Kim, 69; and Hyun Jung Grant, 51, at two Atlanta day spas.

Four of the women killed in the attack were Korean.

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