A new mom wanting to spend some alone time with her husband, a hardworking single mom and an Army vet are some of the eight people–mostly Asian women– who were murdered on Tuesday night in three shootings by a single gunman at spas across the Atlanta area.
Four people were killed at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth.They were identified by authorities as Delaina Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; and Daoyou Feng, 44.
One man, Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, 30 survived.
On Friday, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office released the names of the four Asian women killed in two spas in Atlanta. They are Soon C. Park, 74; Hyun J. Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Yong A. Yue, 63.
Delaina Yaun, 33
Yuan was the mother of an 8-month-old old baby girl and a teenage boy. She had gone to Young’s Asian massage on Tuesday with her husband, of less than a year, for some “alone time,” her younger sister Dana Toole, told CNN. It was their first time visiting the spa.
Toole described her sister as outgoing and family-oriented.
“Her family came first. Everything was her family. She had such a wonderful, happy, upbeat personality,” Toole said. “She was a good person. She didn’t deserve that. Nobody deserved it.”
Yaun’s husband, Mario González told Mundo Hispanico, that he was in a different room when the shooting started about an hour into their massages. He was not injured during the attack.
“They took the most valuable thing I have in my life,” he said. “He left me with only pain, the killer who killed my wife.”
Her family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover her funeral expenses.
Paul Andre Michels, 54
Michels had been doing maintenance work for Young’s Asian Spa when the shooting occurred, his family told CBS. In fact, on the day of the shooting he’d just built his last shelf at the spa. Family members described him as a hardworking Army veteran who owned an electric company. He was also looking to expand into the massage industry and possibly own a few establishments, according to his brother.
Xiaojie Tan, 49
Xiaojie Tan owned two businesses, Young’s Asian Massage and Wang’s Feet and Body Massage in Kennesaw, Georgia, according to business records. She emigrated to the United States from China several years ago and is a licensed massage therapist. She had a daughter of whom she was tremendously proud. Her daughter recently graduated from the University of Georgia.
“She was the sweetest person you’d ever meet,” Greg Hynson, a friend and customer of Tan’s, told the New York Times. “My heart was in my throat the second I heard of it. It still doesn’t seem real.”
Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, 30
Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz was the lone survivor of Tuesday’s attacks. His wife told the New York Times that he called her after he was shot by the gunman steps away from Young’s Asian Massage.
“I’ve been shot!” Mr. Hernandez-Ortiz told his wife, she later recalled. “Please come.”
He’s hospitalized, in the ICU with multiple gunshot wounds, including one in his forehead.
“He’s still alive, he’s fighting for his life,” Gonzalez told the Times. “But the doctors told me that he will have a long recovery after he leaves the hospital.”
His family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover medical bills.
Hyun Jung Grant, 51
Hyun Jung Grant was a Korean immigrant who worked at Atlanta’s Gold Spa. Her son, Randy Park, 23, described her as a “single mother who dedicated her whole life to providing for my brother and I,” in a tribute to his mom in a GoFundMe campaign. Park told the Daily Beast that she “wasn’t just my mother. She was my friend.” He will now have to raise his younger brother alone since the rest of his family is still in South Korea.
Little has been revealed about Daoyou Feng, 44, Soon C. Park, 74, Suncha Kim, 69, or Yong A. Yue, 63.
