Shootings in the U.S.: Two shootings have taken place nearly back-to-back in the United States. A deadly shooting in Atlanta occurred on March 16th, and another one occurred in Colorado on March 22nd. The events were unrelated, but the two shootings’ closeness has left the nation grieving for the lives lost. It has also created outrage and sparked demands for reform.
Shootings in the U.S.: The Atlanta Shooting
On Tuesday, March 16th, eight people were killed in a shooting at three separate massage parlors in the greater Atlanta area. Two of the spas were directly in Atlanta, and the other was in Cherokee County.
Six of the eight people killed were Asian women. The other two victims were a white man and woman. The subject taken into custody was a man by the name of Robert Long. People were convinced that the shooting was an Asian hate crime, but it has been revealed that this was not Long’s intention.
Long, a 21-year-old, is a resident of Woodstock, Georgia. He was arrested at 9:00 PM on Tuesday following the final shooting that ended just before 6:00 PM ET. Long was arrested off I-75, 150 miles south of Atlanta.
The cops were able to track him by his car from surveillance evidence at the massage parlors. Long did not resist arrest when police pulled him over.
The nation was quick to denounce Long for being a racist for the murder of six Asian women. However, he revealed that he committed the crimes because of his sex addiction. The massage parlors represented an urge he could not control, so he utilized violence to end his temptation.
Obviously, Long has a mental illness to do this immoral act. Cherokee Count Police Captain Jay Baker told the press that, “He apparently has an issue. What he considers a sex addiction and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places, and it’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
The Colorado Shooting
Another 21-year-old was responsible for the shooting in the U.S. was in Colorado less than one week after the deadly event in Atlanta. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa has been identified as the man responsible for the shooting that ended in the death of ten people, including a Boulder police officer.
A motive has not been released or discovered at this time. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa’s family stated that the man had mental issues. Still, Dr. Jonathan Metzl, director of the Center for Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt University, has said that no mental illness possesses anyone to take others’ lives.
When the subject’s home was investigated, authorities found a substantial number of lethal weapons. The weapon used in the killing was an AR-15 modified pistol.
Alissa has been charged with ten counts of first-degree murder. Alissa’s brother told the press that he was picked on in high school for being Muslim and not fitting into the crowd. Alissa will most likely plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
This case is more ongoing than the Atlanta shooting because of Alissa’s mental condition’s uncertainty at the time of the attack.
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