Lance Bottoms praised the swift coordination among law enforcement agencies.
"For as tragic as this was on yesterday for metro Atlanta, this could have been ... significantly worse," she said.
Youngs Asian Massage, the scene of the first attack, is on a strip mall with five other shops, settled between a salon and a boutique. The strip is on a busy road lined with similar strips malls, with little foot traffic as customers drove up Wednesday to do their shopping.
A smoke shop, record store and tool shop sit farther down the strip. There is a vacant shop between Smoke South and RetroSound Records.
Rita Barron, owner of Gabby’s Boutique, sits next door to the parlor and described the owners and employees as hardworking.
Barron was in the shop with her husband and customers the night of the shooting. One of the bullets was shot through the shared wall, near the baseboard of a wall lined with jackets for sale.
She said her husband noticed the suspect had been sitting in his vehicle outside the parlor for about an hour before the attack.
Barron saw workers run out of the store, so she sent her husband to investigate. When he discovered what happened, they called 911. She said they were not the first to call 911, and police showed up shortly after.
"I feel confused," she said, adding that she'd never heard gunshots before and wondered what the noises were. She said the owner and employees are "very, very hard workers" who open early and stay late in the evening.
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