[UPDATED] Shooting at Three Atlanta Massage Parlors Leave SEVEN People Dead. Suspect in Custody.

Seven people are dead after a lone gunman went on a shooting spree in Atlanta today.

WKBN reports that Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said three people were killed at a spa in northeast Atlanta, while a fourth person was killed at another spa across the street. He said all three victims were female, and “It appears that they may be Asian.”

Atlanta police officers responding to a call of a robbery in progress at one spa around 5:50 p.m. found three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds, police said. While they were at that scene, they learned of a call reporting shots fired at another spa across the street and found a woman who appeared to have been shot dead inside the business.

Earlier in the afternoon, authorities in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta, said three people were killed and two others injured at a massage parlor there, according to local news outlets.

It appears that all five victims were shot inside the business, Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker told local media. The suspect was captured by surveillance video pulling up to the business around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, minutes before the shooting, authorities said."

With the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans it's easy to assume that this could have been a random crime committed against these people because of their background.

Atlanta police are also saying that it too early to tell if all the shootings are related but, at this point, it's pretty safe to say that they have quite a few common threads. All were massage parlors ran by predominantly Asian American staff.

Lord help this country.

UPDATED:

Police have arrested a 21-year-old man for being involved in at least one of the shootings that left eight people dead. Originally the death toll stood at seven but another victim, from the Cherokee incident, has died. Authorities say that the majority of the victims are Asian women who have not been identified to the public as of yet.

The suspect's name is Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, Georgia.