The FBI joins the investigation of shootings at Asian businesses in Atlanta that left eight dead

By Phil Helsel and Rachel Elbaum - NBC News

The FBI is collaborating in the investigation of shootings that occurred Tuesday night at three businesses in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area, in which eight people were killed, including six women of Asian origin, the agency reported earlier in the day. Wednesday.

The attacks began around 5 p.m.

when four people were killed in Acworth, a northern suburb of Atlanta.

Less than an hour later, four women were killed in two other shootings in Atlanta.

Those victims appeared to be Asian women, as did two of the Acworth victims, authorities reported, raising suspicions that it could be a racistly motivated hate crime. 

Police

detained a suspect, Robert Aaron Long

, 21, after a brief chase, said Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that President Joe Biden had been briefed "overnight on the horrific shooting in Atlanta."

"White House officials have been in contact with the mayor's office and will continue to be in contact with the FBI," he said.

[Aggressions against older adults of Asian origin skyrocket]

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs told our sister network NBC News that

four of the women who died were of Korean origin

, but their nationalities have not yet been verified. 

Authorities did not provide additional details or identifying information about the other victims.

They also did not reveal a possible motive for what happened: "We are in the early stages of the investigations," said Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant.

Baker said Cherokee County deputies discovered two people dead and three others injured in the Acworth massage parlor.

The injured were taken to a hospital

, where two of them died, he said.

About 45 minutes after the shooting in Cherokee County and 30 miles away, Atlanta police responded to a report of a robbery on Piedmont Road in the northeast part of the city.

Authorities discovered three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds

 and, while at the scene, received a gunshot call from across the street, where a woman was found dead inside that business, Atlanta police said.

Bryant described one place as a spa and another as an aromatherapy spa.

After the Cherokee County shooting, the sheriff's office

released photos of a suspect

and asked anyone with information to call 911.

Agents outside a massage parlor in Atlanta following a shooting on March 16, 2021.

Long was detained in Crisp County, about 125 kilometers south of Atlanta, authorities said.

His vehicle

was seen heading south on I-75

, and a Georgia police officer used a maneuver, in which a police car is used to physically stop another vehicle, the Crisp County Sheriff's Office said.

During a visit to South Korea, Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to the shootings and said that such violence had no place in the United States or anywhere.

"We will defend the right of our fellow Americans and

Koreans to be safe and to be treated with dignity,

" he said.

Since the shootings occurred at massage parlors and spas, Atlanta police said officers were dispatched to similar businesses and patrols increased.

In New York City, police were deploying counterterrorism agents to Asian communities as a precaution, a department spokesman said.

[Two men accused of assaulting the policeman who died during the assault on the Capitol are arrested]

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan called the violence in Atlanta an "act of hatred" and said she and Police Chief Adrian Diaz are taking additional steps to

protect Seattle's Asian-American communities

, including police patrols. additional.

After the killings, Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, said he was praying for the victims' families and the community.

"My heart is broken tonight after the tragic violence in Atlanta that claimed eight lives. Once again we see that hatred is deadly. Praying for the families of the victims and for the peace of the community," he tweeted.

"

Our entire family is praying for the victims

of these horrific acts of violence," Georgia Governor Brian Kemp tweeted, adding his thanks for the swift arrest of a suspect by law enforcement.

"This is not very common for us," Captain Baker said.

"In 2020, we had a homicide."

An investigation by the non-governmental organization Stop AAPI Hate revealed that

there have been almost 3,800 reports of hate incidents

targeting Asian Americans across the country since last March, following the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic.