Family, friends of Atlanta spa victims devastated by killings

ACWORTH, Ga. – A spa owner, an Army veteran and a new bride who wanted to be pampered with her husband were among the victims of a Georgia man’s shooting rampage that rocked the nation and highlighted the violence faced by the Asian American community.

Seven women and one man were killed in attacks Tuesday on three massage spas in and around Atlanta. Most of the victims were of Asian descent, although the suspected killer says neither race nor ethnicity played a role in the carnage.

The Atlanta victims have not been identified, but the South Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed four of the women were of Korean descent. A few miles north, in Cherokee County, the victims were identified as Xiaojie Tan, 49, Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, Paul Andre Michels, 54, and Daoyou Feng, 44. Elcias Hernandez- Ortiz, 30, was wounded but survived.

Xiaojie Tan was listed as the owner of a limited liability corporation associated with Young’s Asian Massage and another spa. Authorities say two Asian women, one white woman and one white man were killed at Young’s.

Tan emigrated to the United States from China many years ago and had an adult daughter who recently graduated from the University of Georgia, said friend and customer Greg Hyn

son.

Hynson, 54, said he had been seeing Tan as his massage therapist for about six years. They had become good friends, he said.

“She was the sweetest person you’d ever meet,” he told USA TODAY. “My heart was in my throat the second I heard of it. It still doesn’t seem real.”

Hyson said Tan, who was known by friends as Emily, was a hardworking business owner. He said she always had a kind word for friends. In October, she had a cake waiting for him on his birthday when he came to the spa.

Hyson angrily rejected speculation that Tan’s spa was providing sex services. The suspect told authorities he blamed the businesses for providing an outlet for his sex addiction.

“You’re coming here to get a massage. All these girls that have worked for her over the years are working for her on their own free will,” he said. “They’re here for a better life.”

Paul Michels, who also died at the spa in Acworth, owned an alarm company in Atlanta, where he and his wife, Bonnie, have lived 26 years, his brother John said. Paul Michels had expressed interest in owning a spa.

John Michels says his brother was “just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” They both served in the Army at the same time. “We were basically like twins,” said John, 52.

Yaun leaves behind a 13- year- old son and 8- month- old daughter. She and her husband have been married less than a year.

Her mother, Margaret Rushing, told WAGA- TV her daughter and son- inlaw went to the spa on a date. When gunfire broke out, Yaun’s husband locked himself in a room and wasn’t hurt, said Yaun’s half- sister, Dana Toole. “He’s taking it hard. He was there. He heard the gunshots and everything.”

Little has been revealed about Daoyou Feng. The survivor, Elcias Hernandez Ortiz, is hospitalized in intensive care. His wife, Flor Gonzalez, told USA TODAY that her husband was on the way to a business next door to the spa where he sends money back home. He called her as the shooting unfolded.

“They shot me, they shot me, come help me please,” she said he begged.

The couple are originally from San Marcos, Guatemala. Hernandez- Ortiz came to the USA almost a decade ago. His wife and their 9- year- old daughter joined him in Georgia in 2015.

She said the family depends on Hernandez- Ortiz’s work to survive.

“There are so many people that depend on him. I know he is strong and will come out of this for all of us.”