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A more clean-cut Robert Aaron Long spoke about his baptism in a church video taken years before his alleged deadly rampage at three Atlanta area spas.

Long, 21, was seen with a trimmed beard, glasses and wearing a button-down in a 2018 video on the Crabapple First Baptist Church’s Facebook page.

In the since-deleted clip, Long recalled how when he was in seventh grade, a speaker at a youth group told the biblical story of the prodigal son, the Daily Beast reported.

“The son goes off and squanders all that he has and lives completely for himself and then, when he finds he’s wanting to eat pig food, he realized there’s something wrong and he goes back to his father and his father runs back to him and embraces him,” Long said, the outlet reported.

A now-deleted Facebook post from the Crabapple First Baptist Church showing Robert Aaron Long, discussing his baptism and what faith means to him in 2018.Crabapple First Baptist ChurchA now-deleted Facebook post from the Crabapple First Baptist Church showing Robert Aaron Long, discussing his baptism and what faith means to him in 2018.Crabapple First Baptist Church

“And by the grace of God I was able to draw the connection there and realize this is a story between what happened with me and God. I ran away living completely for myself, and he still wants me, and so that’s when I was saved.”

Atlanta police officers investigate the scene of a shooting outside a spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 2021.EPA/ERIK S. LESSERAtlanta police officers investigate the scene of a shooting outside a spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 2021.EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

His appearance was a far cry from the mugshot released Tuesday of Long with an unkempt beard, half of his hair buzzed short and topless beside a green Velcro vest.


  Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock in Cherokee County poses in a jail booking photograph after he was taken into custody by the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office in Cordele, Georgia. via REUTERS Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock in Cherokee County poses in a jail booking photograph after he was taken into custody by the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office in Cordele, Georgia. via REUTERS

Long was arrested in connection to the shooting spree that killed eight people, including six Asian women, at three separate massage parlors in Acworth and Buckhead.

Officials said Wednesday that Long may have visited some of the locations before and potentially had a “sexual addiction.”


  Officials with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office remove a body from the Gold Spa massage parlor on march 16, 2021. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER Officials with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office remove a body from the Gold Spa massage parlor on march 16, 2021. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

“We believe that he frequented these places in the past and maybe have been lashing out,” said Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds.

Reynolds said he gave no indication that the crimes were racially motivated, but that authorities were not ruling out the possibility at this point in the investigation.


  Long was arrested in connection to the shooting spree that killed eight people, including six Asian women, at three separate massage parlors in Acworth and Buckhead. AP Photo/Mike Stewart Long was arrested in connection to the shooting spree that killed eight people, including six Asian women, at three separate massage parlors in Acworth and Buckhead. AP Photo/Mike Stewart

The violence comes amid a wave of attacks against Asian Americans since the start of the spread of coronavirus.

With Post wires

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