On Tuesday, Robert Aaron Long, the man accused of fatally shooting eight people across three metro Atlanta spas in March, pleaded guilty to four of the murders in Cherokee County, Georgia.
It was Judge Ellen McElyea who formalized the agreement just over four months after Long's fatal rampage on March 16. The murders that he has pleaded guilty to are those that took place inside Youngs Asian Massage when he opened fire and claimed the lives of Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; and Daoyou Feng, 44.
The same day, he killed four others at two additional spas in Atlanta's Fulton County. While the deal mentioned above will spare him from the death sentence concerning the shooting spree at Youngs Asian, Long will still have to contend with the possibility in Fulton County where District Attorney Fani Willis has already said that she intends to seek the death penalty.
In total, Long faced a total of 23 charges in Cherokee County that included felony murder, malicious murder, and aggravated assault. he pleaded guilty to every charge, but the state says that several charges will either merge together or be vacated by law.
"The defendant was merciless in his actions but the surviving victims and the families of the murdered victims chose to request mercy," said Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace at a press conference, "preferring that this defendant spend every remaining day of his life in prison faced with the memories of his own monstrosity."