On a Tuesday that would soon be etched in the memory of a nation, March 16, 2021, Xiaojie Tan, a 49-year-old woman of Asian descent, was nearing her 50th birthday. An entrepreneur, she was the owner of Young's Asian Massage in Acworth, Georgia. That afternoon, her life, along with the lives of three others at her establishment, was violently cut short in a shooting spree that would ultimately claim eight lives and ignite a national conversation on anti-Asian violence.
The gunman, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, entered Young's Asian Massage and opened fire, killing Tan, as well as Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, Paul Andre Michels, 54, and Daoyou Feng, 44. Another individual was also injured in the attack. Long then drove to Atlanta, where he continued his rampage at two other spas, killing four more people. His violent spree came to an end later that evening when he was apprehended in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta. His parents had recognized him from surveillance footage released by the authorities and alerted the police, who were then able to track his vehicle.
During his confession to law enforcement, Long claimed his actions were not racially motivated but were the result of a sex addiction, stating he wanted to eliminate the temptation the spas represented. However, the fact that six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent led to widespread skepticism and condemnation, with many viewing the attacks as hate crimes.
In Cherokee County, where Xiaojie Tan was killed, Robert Aaron Long pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and other charges. On July 27, 2021, he was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors in Cherokee County stated they did not find sufficient evidence to pursue hate crime charges. In contrast, in Fulton County, where the other four victims were killed, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and have filed for hate crime enhancements based on the race and gender of the victims. Long has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Fulton County, and that case is still pending.
