‘A LOT OF SHAME’

Atlanta Shooting Suspect’s Ex-Housemates Say He Attended Rehab for Sex Addiction

One former rehab housemate said they immediately suspected Robert Aaron Long when they saw the headlines about the shootings.

Two former housemates of the man charged with eight counts of murder after three Tuesday night shootings at Atlanta-area spas say he previously attended a rehab center for sex addiction. Robert Aaron Long, 21, allegedly shot and killed eight people, including six Asian American women—and insanely blamed his victims for creating a “temptation,” police said. According to his former housemates at Maverick Recovery Center in Roswell, Georgia, Long would visit massage parlors for sex and then spend days filled with self-loathing about it. “He would say, ‘I’ve done it again’ and it just ate away at him,” said Tyler Bayless. “He felt absolutely merciless remorse.” Bayless said Long is a Christian and it fueled his self-hatred. “When I saw the headlines, my mind went straight to him, because those were the places he would frequent,” he said. Maverick Recovery Center hasn’t commented on Long. Police are still investigating whether the rampage—which comes amid a wave of anti-Asian violence and targeted Asian massage parlors—can be classified as a hate crime.