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Is Robert Aaron Long a sex addict? Haunting truth of Atlanta spa shooter behind mass shootings in massage parlors

'You can be a sex addict and a vile racist piece of garbage at the same time,' a user wrote

During his confession to the police, 21-year-old Atlanta spa shooter Robert Aaron Long admitted that he was struggling with sexual addiction and frequented the spas where he shot and killed eight people including six women of Asian descent on Tuesday, March 16, 2021. However, in a bizarre statement, Cherokee County Sheriff's Captain Jay Baker almost appeared to dismiss the racism angle from his horrific mass murders.

While speaking about Long's sex addiction, Baker said, “He was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope, and yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did." Baker received a lot of backlash for dismissing racial hatred behind the shootings, many users on Twitter and social media seemed keen on doing the same.

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His near-desperate attempt to rule out racism was reiterated by a section of Twitterati, only to earn ample flak from a more sentient section of Internet users. 

Terming the crime to be sexually motivated, these users lashed out at those who highlighted the racial nature of the crime. "C'mon man! This sick guy was a sex addict that was taking out his hatred on the parlor because they 'tempted' him. It's so tiring always blaming everything on racism. Shut it until you know the facts," a user responded to Barack Obama's concerns about rising anti-Asian violence. 

Is Robert Aaron Long a sex addict?

Among other things, Long admitted to his sexual addiction during his confession, revealing that he was on his way to a pornography-related venue in Florida. Blaming the massage parlors and similar establishments for his addiction, Long apparently told he was "fed up" and wanted to eliminate his temptation, as per Captain Jay Baker. 

However, a more shocking part of his confession indicated that there could have been more victims if he was not caught. He started out by shooting and killing four people at Young's Asian Massage Parlor in Acworth, Georgia, and went on with his murderous spree. It can be assumed that there might have been a bigger massacre had Long reached his sex-related destination in Florida.

Long, whose father was a youth pastor, grew up with strong religious beliefs in the Crabapple First Baptist Church. “It was your typical evangelical Baptist church but they do push the narrative hard that if you watch porn, if you’re doing sexual things, you’re going to hell,” a former member of the church shared with The Daily Beast. 

A non-active Instagram account, which is believed to belong to Long, showed his bio as “Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life.” In fact, Long was so religious in school that he "wouldn't even cuss", revealed his former classmate. 

Despite the sexually motivated nature of his crime and his deeply religious past hinting at repressed sexual depravity, a majority of Americans believe that it is wrong and problematic to rule out the racist overtone of the crime — especially since Asian women were targetted. 

 

‘White man: *kills six Asian women* Police: Are you racist? Man: No’

The users trying to overlook the racism angle in Long's crimes presented their argument with quite strong words. Leftist liberals were also blamed in the process.

"Ahhh, the way of the left call everything racist, he killed 2 White people! But that doesn’t matter! He was a sex addict who was basically killing his supplier, but somehow it’s racist!! 2 black kids literally tied up and burned a YT teen to death last week. Not a peep!!!" wrote one user. Another wrote, "The liberal crazy left would have you believe that the killings in Atlanta were against Asians. The maniac was a sex addict and that's what he is using as an excuse. We should ban all massage parlors to prevent this from happening again!!" 

"Alternate description: but I see the transparent glee at which major left-wing media is trying to make every other big story of the evening when the story of the day was a sex addict murder spree," tweeted one. 

The 'not racist' narrative was soon countered by another section of users, who pointed out the evidential racist connotations in Tuesday's mass shooting. "You can be a sex addict and a vile racist piece of garbage at the same time. These things aren't mutually exclusive," said writer Janelle Okwodu on Twitter. "White man: *kills six Asian women* Police: Are you racist Man: No Police: He’s not racist, he just had a bad day," Laura Bassett slammed the police in a tweet.

Another user tweeted, "I'm a recovering sex addict. I used to snap a rubber band on my wrist when I wanted to act out. Never occurred to me to murder 8 people. This is about racism and misogyny."

There have not been any more statements from the police regarding the possibility of racial hatred as a motive for Long's crime. We will update this space with the latest developments.