A loving grandmother who often helped others. A young wife and mother on a date night with her husband. A handyman and Army vet. A proud mother of two sons.
They were all among the eight people killed during a shooting spree on March 16, 2021, at three metro Atlanta spas.
Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49, Daoyou Feng, 44, Delaina Yaun, 33, and Paul Michels, 54, died in the shooting at Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County. A fifth person, Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, was injured. Afterward, Long drove about 30 miles to Piedmont Road where Yong Ae Yue, 63, Soon Chung Park, 74, Suncha Kim, 69, and Hyun Jung Grant, 51, were killed at the Gold Spa and the Aromatherapy Spa.
Only the spa in Cherokee remains open this week, and it has a new name.
One year later, Robert Aaron Long is serving a life sentence for the Cherokee shootings after he pleaded guilty. He awaits trial in Fulton, where prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty, a move that could take years.
The Cherokee County victims
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49, of Kennesaw, owned and ran the spa in Cherokee County. Longtime customer and friend Greg Hynson, 54, recalled hours spent visiting at the shop with Tan, who loved to brag on her daughter, a recent University of Georgia grad.
“She was very proud,” he said. “She would share pictures of them doing things. Sunday brunch. When she graduated.”
Tan died three days before her 50th birthday. Her daughter, Ying Tan “Jami” Webb, was left with no other family in the U.S., according to a GoFundMe page setup to help with Tan’s arrangements.
“My mother was a sanctuary to me,” Jami posted on the page. “She always took me in and cuddle me when I am sad and lost.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Daoyou Feng, 44, was born in rural China and had moved to the U.S. to pursue the American Dream. She lived in Kennesaw and had only been working a few weeks at Tan’s spa.
She was a Chinese citizen, according to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the USA.
“China urges the US side to punish the perpetrator according to law at an early date and do justice to those killed and their beloved ones,” said spokesperson Hua Chunying.
Hynson recalled she was a petite woman with a kind smile. He could tell she was easy to get along with, though neither could speak the other’s language fluently.
Credit: Family Photos
Credit: Family Photos
Delaina Ashley Yaun Gonzalez was a 33-year-old mother of two enjoying a rare spa day with her husband when she was gunned down. The couple had welcomed a baby girl just eight months earlier.
“Boy, I’m going to miss her,” Gonzalez’s grandfather James Yaun Sr. said, standing in his Bartow County doorway, not far from her home, in the days after her death. “She was about the only company I had over here.”
The granddad was proud of her, how she worked so hard to provide for her two children. She worked full time at Waffle House and for several years also supervised a roofing crew. A GoFundMe page was created for her family.
Credit: John Michels
Credit: John Michels
Paul Andre Michels, 54, was a handyman who loved ones said could build or fix anything. The U.S. Army veteran worked hard every day, but loved spending time with his wife, Bonnie, whenever he could. He lived in Tucker, but was friends with Tan and regularly worked odd jobs at her home and her business, authorities said.
In an impact statement before the court during Long’s sentencing in July, Bonnie Michels said her husband was a Detroit native who owned his own business, loved gardening, and was an asset to his bowling team. She planned to grow old with him, following wherever he wanted to go, she said. They were married 24 years.
“Paul will be missed by so many but especially by me,” Bonnie Michels wrote on a GoFundMe page. “I wish my best to all the families of all the victims. I hope God will give them strength through this difficult time.”
The Fulton County victims
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Yong Ae Yue, 63, adored her two sons and loved cooking for people anytime she got the chance. Rarely spotted without a smile on her face, Yue liked to visit Korean karaoke bars, where she joyously belted out songs by Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and other favorites.
Her two sons remembered her in front of her Duluth home just days after her death. She gave people flowers, gifts, money to cover bills. It didn’t much matter what you needed, said Yue’s two sons. She did what she could.
“My mom, if she was here, her heart would go out to the families as well,” said Elliott Peterson.
Yue, who was born in Korea, moved to Georgia in the 1980s with her husband, a U.S. Army soldier she’d met back home, and Peterson.
“My mother didn’t do anything wrong,” said Robert Peterson, who was born at Fort Benning, and set up a GoFundMe page to take care of his mother’s memorial and arrangements. “And she deserves the recognition that she is a human, she’s a community person like everyone else. None of those people deserved what happened to them.”
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
Soon Chung Park, 74, loved dancing, especially the tango and the cha-cha. She’d raised five kids on her own after she was widowed, and she’d worked all her life — mostly as a cook, though she once owned a jewelry store. She planned to move north to be closer to her grandchildren, but her life was cut short before she got that chance.
Park had lived in New York before moving to Atlanta and left behind a grieving husband, Gwangho Lee. Lee set up a GoFundMe to help him get by as struggles with the tragedy.
“I am raising money to pay for my living expenses, including rent and bills, because I am currently unable to work due to the trauma I have experienced from this attack and from the death of my wife,” he wrote. “I would be very grateful for any support that will allow me to get back on my feet after this terrible loss.”
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
Suncha Kim was 69. A mother of two and grandmother of three, she was married and loved by all who knew her, her granddaughter said.
“She was married to a loving husband who she planned to grow old with,” a statement from the family said. “She has two children. A loving son, a loving daughter, and three beautiful grandchildren. Outside of our immediate family, everyone that met my grandmother loved her dearly.”
A GoFundMe page was been established on behalf of Kim’s family.
“My grandmother was an angel, to have her taken away in such a horrific manner is unbearable to think about,” granddaughter Regina Song wrote on the fundraising page. “As an immigrant, all my grandmother ever wanted in life was to grow old with my grandfather, and watch her children and grandchildren live the life she never got to live.”
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
Hyun Jung Grant, 51, worked hard to provide for her two sons. She lived in the Duluth area and loved disco and club music, regularly strutting or moonwalking as she did her household chores, her oldest son, Randy Park, said. In the car, she would jam with her sons to tunes blasting over the stereo.
A single mother of two, both sons said they had no other family in America.
“She was one of my best friends and the strongest influence on who we are today,” Randy Park wrote on a GoFundMe page set up to cover arrangements for his mom and help him and his brother.
“Thank you everyone so much. This doesn’t represent even a fragment of how I feel. My mother can rest easy knowing I have the support of the world with me,” Park wrote after the fundraiser went viral.
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