Authorities have named all of the victims of the Atlanta spa shootings, as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris visited in Atlanta to meet with local Asian American leaders and offered support to a grieving community.
The Fulton county medical examiner’s office on Friday updated the list of shooting victims with the names of four women that had not been previously released. The eight who were killed on Tuesday have now been identified as:
Soon Chung Park, age 74
Hyun Jung Grant, age 51
Suncha Kim, age 69
Yong Yue, age 63
Delaina Ashley Yaun, age 33
Paul Andre Michels, age 54
Xiaojie Tan, age 49
Daoyou Feng, age 44
Three of the women named on Friday died at the Gold Spa in Atlanta, while the fourth woman died across the street at Aromatherapy Spa. The medical examiner didn’t immediately say which woman died at Aromatherapy.
Cherokee county authorities had earlier identified those who were killed at Youngs Asian Massage, near Woodstock in Atlanta’s north-western suburbs, as Yaun, Michels, Feng and Tan, who was the spa’s owner. Another person, identified as Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, was also shot, but survived.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, has been charged with the killings.
Details about the victims’ lives have continued to emerge this week. Hyun Jung Grant’s son, Randy Park, wrote that his mother “was one of my best friends and the strongest influence on who we are today” in a post on the GoFundMe website.
Delaina Ashley Yaun’s friend, Rose Luce, told the Guardian: “I’ve never seen such love in a family the way I see the love Delaina had for hers.”
Paul Andre Michels’ brother, John, told the Guardian: “He was just a regular guy, very good-hearted, very soft-natured.”
Family and friends of Xiaojie Tan told USA Today that she was “a curious, hard-working and caring woman who was always filled with joy”.
In a visit to Atlanta on Friday, Biden and Harris condemned this week’s attack as well as the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes over the past year.
“Whatever the killer’s motive, these facts are clear,” Harris said: six of the eight people killed were of Asian descent, seven were women, and “the shootings took place in businesses owned by Asian Americans”.
“The president and I will not be silent. We will not stand by,” she added. “We will always speak out against violence, hate crimes and discrimination, wherever and whenever it occurs.”
