It was confirmed that it was thanks to prompt reports from parents that the suspect Robert Aaron Long, 21, was caught before committing additional crimes in the Atlanta serial shootings, where eight people, including four Korean women, were killed.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC), a local newspaper in Atlanta, reported that the parents of suspect Long contacted the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in Georgia shortly after the incident on the eve of the 17th (local time).
Long's parents also reported that a location information system (GPS) tracker was installed in Tucson, a sports utility vehicle (SUV) of Hyundai Motor, which Long drives after notifying that the person in the video at the crime scene is his son.
Long's GPS information was shared with an investigative agency, and in the end, Long was captured in Crisp County, 240 kilometers from Atlanta, at 8:30 pm, more than three hours after the first incident.
Long reportedly planned an additional crime in Florida.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told a press conference that the damage would have been even more severe if Long had arrived in Florida.
AJC said the investigative agency would not have been able to arrest Long as quickly without the information of Long's parents.
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said it did not know why Long's vehicle had a GPS tracker and whether Long was aware of it.
(Yonhap News/Photo = Reuters, Yonhap News)