On March 16, 2021, Suncha Kim, a 69-year-old woman of Korean descent, was tragically killed in a shooting spree that targeted three Atlanta-area spas. An immigrant from Seoul, South Korea, she was a beloved grandmother who had moved to the United States to provide a better life for her family. She was a mother to two children and had three grandchildren. Her family described her as a 'pure-hearted and the most selfless woman,' who worked multiple jobs to support her loved ones. She had a close relationship with her family, calling her granddaughter weekly to offer words of encouragement.
The day of the shooting, Kim was working at Gold Spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. It was one of three locations targeted by a single gunman. The assailant entered the spa and opened fire, fatally wounding Kim with two gunshots to the chest. In total, eight people lost their lives in the attacks that day, six of whom were women of Asian descent.
The suspect, identified as 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, was arrested later the same day. He confessed to the shootings, claiming he was motivated by a sex addiction and a desire to eliminate the temptation the spas represented to him. Long was charged with multiple counts of murder.
In Cherokee County, where the first attack occurred, Long pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and received four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 35 years. In Fulton County, where Suncha Kim was killed, prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty and have filed for a hate crime sentence enhancement, arguing the crimes were motivated by the race, national origin, sex, and gender of the victims. As of early 2026, Long was still awaiting trial in Fulton County on charges including felony murder and domestic terrorism.
