ATLANTA (AP) — Nearly a year after a mass shooting at three Atlanta-area spas killed eight people, many of them Asian women, community members gathered Saturday for a memorial service Remember the victims.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, more than 150 people gathered in a park to hear victims’ families and members of Atlanta’s Asian American community talk about the shooting and the impact it had on their lives.
Robert Peterson’s mother, Yong Ae Yue, who was killed in one of the shootings, spoke to those who showed up to pay their respects in Atlanta in the cold, deep winter.
“I miss her food. I miss her waiting at the door when we came over. I just miss all the little things we take for granted while she’s here,” Peterson said, according to the paper.
Families of other victims wrote letters explaining the impact of the shooting on their families and lives.
The shooting stirred up the city’s Asian American community when it was revealed that six of the eight shooting victims were Asian women.
The victims were: Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; and Delena Yahn, 33; and Paul Michels, 54; Suncha Kim, 69; Song Joong Park , 74; Xianzhen Grant, 51; and Yong Aiyue, 63.
On March 16 last year, Robert Aaron Long, 21, opened fire at the Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County, killing four people, including three women and two of Asian descent, police said. . A fifth person was shot and wounded, authorities said.
Long then drove to Atlanta, where he shot three women at Gold Spa, then crossed the street to Aromatherapy Spa and killed another woman, according to authorities. All victims in Atlanta are Asian.
Authorities said at the time that Long’s claim that his actions were not racially motivated but rather a “sex addiction” sparked outrage and suspicion in the Asian American community.
Last July, Long pleaded guilty to murder and other charges against the man he killed in Cherokee County and was sentenced to life without parole.
Long, 22, still faces charges, including murder, in the Atlanta homicide, and the Fulton County District Attorney is seeking the death penalty. Long pleaded not guilty in Fulton County, and a hearing in the case is scheduled for next month.
District Attorney Fanny Willis said she believes race and gender played a role in Lang’s motives for the Atlanta killings, and she is seeking enhanced sentencing under the state’s hate crime law.
