Robert Aaron Long - accused of killing 8 people, 6 of them Asian women, in Georgia - won't appear in court Thursday
- Accused Georgia spa shooter Robert Aaron Long won't appear in court on Thursday.
- Long waived his appearance on the charges, Cherokee County officials told Insider.
- The 21-year-old white man is accused of shooting and killing 8 people, 6 of them Asian.
The 21-year-old white man accused of shooting and killing 8 people at three Atlanta-area spas waived his first appearance in court, which was scheduled for Thursday, Cherokee County court and District Attorney staff told Insider.
Robert Aaron Long, who is charged with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault, was scheduled to appear in Cherokee County Court.
In this case, Long is already represented by an attorney and waived this initial appearance, Cherokee County DA spokesperson Cyndi B. Crossland told Insider. Long's case will need to be presented to a grand jury before he is arraigned. There are no other court hearings scheduled for now, Crossland said.
Long, of Woodstock, Georgia, is accused of a violent rampage that took the lives of 8 people, six of them Asian women.
"Everybody is doing their jobs, both law enforcement and the District Attorney's Office," Burns said in a written statement to Insider. "Now, our firm will conduct a thorough investigation on our client's behalf."
Police say the first shooting happened just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday at Young's Asian Massage in Acworth, Georgia, a northern suburb of Atlanta. Four people were killed, including two women of Asian descent, a white woman, and a white man, Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department said.
A Hispanic man, who was also present at the attack, survived.
Half an hour later, the Atlanta Police Department responded to the Gold Spa beauty salon and found three women shot dead, police chief Rodney Bryant told reporters.
While investigating the second shooting, police were called to a business across the street, Aroma Therapy Spa, where another woman was found dead from a gunshot wound.
All four women found dead at the two Atlanta spas were of Asian descent, Bryant said.
Authorities claimed Long told investigators that he had a sex addiction, and they believed he may have been "lashing out" in an attempt to eliminate temptation. Police announced during a press conference Wednesday that it was too early to say if the attacks were also racially-motivated.
The shootings occurred during a wave of violence against Asian Americans across the US, leading some advocates to push back against downplaying race as a factor in the killings.