The church attended by the white man charged with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage businesses, most of them women of Asian descent, condemned the shootings Friday and said they run contrary to the gospel and the church’s teachings.
Crabapple First Baptist Church in Milton, Georgia, also announced in a statement that it plans to remove 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long from its membership because it “can no longer affirm that he is truly a regenerate believer in Jesus Christ.” Previously the church had only issued a brief statement expressing condolences, without mentioning Long.
It also shut down its social media accounts and made its website private. On Friday it said those measures were taken to protect the safety of its