AN Atlanta spa shooting victim was “getting a couple’s massage with her husband” when she was shot dead in a parlor massacre.
Delaina Ashley Yaun was fatally shot in Georgia on Tuesday by a man who admitted to shooting the 33-year-old woman and seven other victims.
The man, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, has been accused of having gunned down eight people at three different massage parlor locations in Atlanta on March 16.
God-fearing Long – a “sex addict” who later took responsibility for the shootings and told cops that the massage parlors were a “temptation that he wanted to eliminate” – has been charged over the attack.
A total of eight victims were gunned down; seven were women and six of them were of Asian descent.
A GoFundMe, created on Wednesday for the Delaina Yaun family, reads: “During a simple couple massage with her husband after work. Delaina Yaun lost her life after the parlor was shot up.
“Her husband made it safely out but she leaves behind two beautiful children Mia And Mayson.
“Her husband Mario along with her mother and siblings are all mortified and there’s nothing anyone could do to help with the pain.”
The crowdfunding page has since raised $640 of its $5,000 goal.
Someone close to Delaina took to Facebook to remember the mom-of-two was a “great role model.”
Facebook user Cristy Lynn McGouirk, who said she was a cousin of Delaina’s, wrote: “You were an amazing Mother, Sister, Daughter, Aunt, Grandaughter, Cousin, & best friend that anyone could have asked for.
“Your heart of gold, kindness, and pure love will never be forgotten… Strong willed, love and dedication, is what you were made of. Thank you for the times we shared together.”
Delaina was gunned down at the first shooting around 5pm at the Youngs Asian Massage Parlor off Bells Ferry Road and Highway 92 in Acworth, Georgia.
Long was captured by surveillance video pulling up to the business around 4.50pm, just minutes before the shooting.
Two people died at the scene. A further three were transported to hospital, where another two succumbed to their injuries.
From Young’s Asian Massage, it’s believed the gunman drove more than 30 miles and opened fire at two other businesses north of the city in the suburb of Woodland Hills.
Less than an hour later, police responded to a call of a “robbery in progress” at Gold Spa, in northeast Atlanta.
Three women were shot dead in that attack.
The gunman then headed to another spa situated just across the street, the Aromatherapy Spa, where officers found another woman deceased.
Long was arrested on the night of March 16 after leading cops on a three hour car chase, Cherokee County Sheriff’s spokesperson Howard J Baker said.
He was only apprehended after authorities performed a pursuit intervention technique (PIT) to stop his vehicle.
The move “caused the vehicle to spin out of control” as Long was reportedly driving south on Interstate 75.
He was taken into custody “without incident” and was being held at the Crisp County jail.
The suspect is heading back to Cherokee County for a court hearing on Friday morning regarding the slaughters.
Sheriff Frank Reynolds said in a press conference on Wednesday that Long had potential “sexual addiction” issues.
CNN later reported that a former roommate had claimed the alleged shooter spent time in a sex rehab clinic.
Sheriff Reynolds added that cops believe Long “frequented these places in the past” and that he “may have been lashing out.”
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the four victims who died at Youngs Asian Massage Parolor were: Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, Paul Andre Michels, 54, Xiaojie Yan, 49 and Daoyou Feng, 44.
The one victim who was injured, but is in stable condition, was identified as Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30.
The identities of the four victims who were killed at Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa have not been released by officials.
