Officials today gave a chronological order of events that unfolded on Tuesday night in the Atlanta area, where eight people – including six Asian women – were shot dead at three metro Atlanta spas. One suspect is in custody, authorities said.
Cherokee County, Georgia, Sheriff Frank Reynolds says his department got a call about a shooting at about 4:55 p.m. ET.
“Our deputies responded and found multiple gunshot victims. We were able to quickly identify a potential subject from video footage,” he said.
At 5:47 p.m. ET, police responded to a robbery call at 1916 Piedmont Road, where they found three women shot. While investigating that incident, they received another call about an incident at 1907 Piedmont Road, where they found another women shot, another law enforcement official said.
“Both locations were massage parlors. At that time, we recognized that we had had information previously put out by Cherokee County that they had a similar incident in their jurisdiction,” he said.
When police put the information about the suspect on social media, the suspect’s family members got in touch.
“Shortly thereafter, we were contacted by members of a family, indicating that that may be their son. So we met with them. I was there speaking with the family. They’re very distraught and they were very helpful in this apprehension,” he added.
Law enforcement was then able to track the suspect’s phone, anticipating his movements. Crisp County police intercepted him in coordination with state patrol.
“They initiated a traffic stop and then immediately pitted the vehicle. After the vehicle was pitted, the suspect was taken into custody without further incident and transported to the Crisp County jail,” a state patrol official said.
The suspect was interviewed by the Cherokee County police, Atlanta police and the FBI on Tuesday night and remains at Cherokee County adult detention center, Reynolds reported.
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