‘Extreme and wicked’: Alleged Atlanta killer’s church condemns ‘evil actions and desires’

While investigators say it’s too early to determine whether race was behind the killings, they aren’t ruling it out

The church of suspected Atlanta shooter Robert Aaron Long issued a lengthy condemnation over the "unthinkable and egregious" massage in which eight people were killed.

The Crabapple First Baptist Church said in a statement they had watched Mr Long grow up over the many years his family had been members of the church.

"He alone is responsible for his evil actions and desires… These actions are the result of a sinful heart and depraved mind for which Aaron is completely responsible," the statement said.

The church has been cooperating with law enforcement as investigators work to determine a motive behind the "extreme and wicked" killings of eight people and the wounding of another.

"In the strongest possible terms, we condemn the actions of Aaron Long as well as his stated reasons for carrying out this wicked plan," the statement said.

Mr Long, 21, confessed to police that he wanted to "eliminate" the ' temptation" of his sex addiction, with investigators saying he had frequented the massage parlours.

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Cherokee County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jay Baker said that there wasn't a racial motivation given by the suspect during the initial interview.

"[Investigators] got that impression that, yes, he understood the gravity of it, and he was 'pretty much fed up', and at the end of his rope and yesterday was a 'really bad day' for him, and this is what he did," Mr Baker said.

Mr Baker was removed as spokesman after criticisms that those comments had played down the severity of the killings or the potential of racism being a motiving factor.

In a follow-up interview, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds defended Mr Baker, saying he was relaying the suspect's own words for why he committed the act, not making that characterisation himself.

"He was quoting the suspect from the interview that he was having a bad day, not that we think he was having a bad day. I mean it was a horrific event and in no way did we minimise, or try to minimise, the severity of this," Mr Reynolds said.

He said it was too early to say whether murders were connected to the Asian American backgrounds of six of the eight victims, and Mr Long responded "it was not" when asked directly.

"I have watched the entire interview with the suspect and he does make a full confession, and during that interview, I did not hear anything about race, other than us asking the question," Mr Reynolds said.

"We're not going to rule that out, obviously we're going to continue this investigation and go off of every lead and every possible angle that we can, but still a little early to tell."