Victims of Atlanta spa shootings remembered 5 years later

Eight people killed at Atlanta-area spas five years ago, six of them Asian women, are being remembered this week as communities across the country renew calls for justice and an end to anti-Asian hate.

Remembering the violence: On March 16, 2021, Robert Aaron Long fatally shot Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Delaina Yaun, 33; and Paul Michels, 54, at Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County. He then headed roughly 30 miles south to Atlanta, killing Soon Chung Park, 74; Suncha Kim, 69; Yong Ae Yue, 63; and Hyun Jung Grant, 51, at Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa.

Long pleaded guilty in Cherokee County months after the attack and was sentenced to four life terms without parole. He attributed the killings to a sexual compulsion rather than racial animus, a claim Asian American advocates have rejected and that Fulton County prosecutors contest in seeking hate crime sentencing enhancements and the death penalty. The violence helped propel the Stop Asian Hate movement as anti-Asian incidents surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honoring their memory: Vigils, press conferences and panel discussions marked this year’s anniversary from Atlanta to Seattle. At the Georgia State Capitol on Monday, State Rep. Michelle Au urged the public, “On this five year anniversary, many will remember how they died. But they should be remembered for how they lived.” In Seattle, dozens gathered at Hing Hay Park in the Chinatown-International District on Sunday. There, advocates with the Massage Parlor Organizing Project launched “Safety Not Stigma,” a new initiative aimed at reducing stereotypes and licensing and language barriers facing Asian massage workers.

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and fellow Democratic lawmakers introduced a formal resolution to honor the victims, citing data showing that anti-Asian hate crimes have climbed to roughly triple their pre-pandemic numbers.

“Five years after the Atlanta spa shootings, we remember the eight lives taken, six of them Asian women, in a heinous act of anti-Asian hate,” said Chu, who chaired the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus at the time of the attacks. “Their families and communities continue to carry this profound loss. Their memory reminds us of the painful surge in anti-Asian hate that scarred our nation during the pandemic and the responsibility we all share to confront it.”

“For many in the Asian American community, it was our worst nightmare realized and the inevitable result of racist slurs like ‘kung flu’ that painted a target on our backs,” said current CAPAC Chair Grace Meng (D-N.Y.). “While my COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act that passed into law marked real progress in addressing anti-Asian hate, more must be done to protect our communities.”

Moving forward: The Asian American Foundation’s 2025 STAATUS Index shows that nearly two-thirds of Asian Americans feel unsafe in their everyday lives. At a panel discussion in Duluth, Stephanie Cho, former executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta, stressed that the stories of immigrant women working in spas still go overlooked. “We’re not doing anything on immigrant labor enough, and it’s again, uplifting people again that are not seen, which is the whole point of this,” she said.

Long is set to return to court on March 30 in Fulton County, where prosecutors continue to pursue hate crime sentencing enhancements and the death penalty for the four Atlanta murders.