All eight victims of the deadly shooting rampage targeting three Georgia massage spas had been identified by Friday and were found to include an Army veteran, a newlywed and a hardworking single mother-of-two.
By SNEJANA FARBEROV and KAYLA BRANTLEY
- Victims of Georgia massage spa rampage identified as Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44
- Also killed were Soon C. Park, 44; Hyun J. Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69, and 63-year-old Yong Yue
- Robert Aaron Long, 21, charged with murdering four people at two spas in Atlanta and four more in a spa in Cherokee County on Tuesday
- Long told police attacks were not racially motivated, but had to do with his sex and pornography addiction
- Six of deceased victims were Asian-American women, leading to speculation it was a hate crime
- Delaina Yaun was married mom-of-two who arranged a spa day with her husband to relax from taking care of their baby
- Paul Michels was Army veteran who was installing security system at Young’s Asian Massage Parlor in Cherokee County
- Xiaojie Tan was the owner of the massage parlor; she is survived by her daughter, a recent University of Georgia graduate
- Hyun Grant came from South Korea with her two sons and was raising them on her own
All eight victims of the deadly shooting rampage targeting three Georgia massage spas had been identified by Friday and were found to include an Army veteran, a newlywed and a hardworking single mother-of-two.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, has been charged with murdering four people at two spas in Atlanta and four more in a spa in Cherokee County on Tuesday.
Long, who was said to be a customer at two out of the three targeted spas, told police on Wednesday that the attacks were not racially motivated, but had to do with his sex and pornography addiction, and his purported desire to eliminate the sources of his temptation.
He told police that he saw the parlors as an ‘outlet’ for his sex addiction. Detectives have not clarified if he had ever engaged in sex acts with any of the staff there.
He has been charged with four counts of murder and aggravated assault in Cherokee County, where the first salon is that was targeted. He hasn’t yet been charged in Atlanta.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told CNN on Wednesday that she wanted the most severe charges possible against Robert Aaron Long, 21.
Bottoms said it was hard to ignore that Asian Americans were singled out.
‘This is a man who murdered, eight people in cold blood, so it’s very difficult to believe what he says,’ said Bottoms.
‘It’s difficult to ignore the fact that many of the victims were Asian, all of the victims in Atlanta were Asian, in fact, and that he targeted these Asian massage parlors.’
Bottoms said it is important that people stand in solidarity with the Asian American community at this time.
