“He’s not doing well,” Toole said of his sister’s husband. “He’s taking this seriously.”
Ms. Yaun, one of the four brothers who grew up in the area, worked as a waitress at a Waffle House restaurant. She raised a 13-year-old son as a single mother and had an 8-month-old daughter, family members said.
“It was all about family,” said Toole. “Whatever we do, we would do it together. It doesn’t seem real. I hope to see you coming through the door any minute. Only it still didn’t go well. “
DeLayne Davis, a relative, called Mrs. Yaun “a good and pious woman”.
Mrs. Davis was with family and friends outside Mrs. Yaun’s home in Acworth on Wednesday afternoon, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“She was the rock of this family,” said Davis. “If any family needed anything, they would look for it. She adored her children. “
Paul Andre Michels, another person killed at the spa, was one of nine brothers, said his brother John Michels.
Increased attacks against Asian Americans
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- Eight people, including six women of Asian descent, were killed in shootings at massage parlors in Atlanta. Although authorities in Atlanta said they did not believe the shootings were racially motivated, Asian communities in the United States are on alert because of an increase in attacks against Asian Americans last year.
- A torrent of hatred and violence against Asian Americans in the United States began last spring, in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Community leaders say the prejudice was fueled by the rhetoric of former President Donald J. Trump, who referred to the coronavirus as the “China virus”.
- In New York, the wave of xenophobia and violence has been exacerbated by the economic consequences of the pandemic, which has dealt a severe blow to New York’s Asian-American communities.
- In January, an 84-year-old man from Thailand was violently thrown to the ground in San Francisco, resulting in his death in a hospital two days later. The attack was captured on video and the man’s death became a rallying cry.
“We did almost everything together,” said Michels, 52. His brother, he said, was a businessman and a veteran of the US Army infantry, where he served in the late 1980s. Paul Michels had been married for more than 20 years and was a Catholic, as well as a strong political conservative, said his brother . He grew up in southwest Detroit and moved to Georgia about 25 years ago to work.
“My brother was a very hardworking and loving man,” said Michels.
Hernandez-Ortiz, the man wounded in the attack, was going to a currency exchange next to Young’s Asian Massage when he fired, said his wife, Flor Gonzalez. Moments later, he desperately took out his cell phone.