Atlanta: On his 50th birthday, Xiaojie Tan reunited with his only son and ate his favorite fresh strawberry cream cake.
Her mother and daughter were her best friends.
But the day before Tan celebrates her many achievements: earning a living in the United States, starting her family, starting two businesses, a gunman breaks into her business, fires her, and she Shoot the other three with. .. He continued to kill the other four in the other two hot springs.
Instead, 29-year-old Jamiweb and 64-year-old her father Michael Webb spent Tan’s birthday planning a funeral in the Catholic Church.
She did everything for me and my family. She offered everything. I worked 12 hours a day so that I and our family could have a better life, Jami Webb said of her mother.
Like Tan, the majority of shooting victims are of Asian descent, drawing attention to the current wave of hate crimes against Asian Americans across the country, fueled by racism and violence. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the exclusion of foreigners in anti-Chinese rhetoric have been expressed by many conservative leaders, including former President Donald Trump.
At dawn on Thursday, her father, daughter, and her fiancé were outside the massage room watching a little candlelight vigil celebrating the dead.
No one knew who they were, and even the web didn’t seek attention or awareness.
A well-meaning stranger presented JamiWebb with a pamphlet honoring the victims. She put her head on her fiancé’s shoulders, tears in her eyes, and tied her fingers. For a while, the three stood outside the front door of the store, each holding a Jami Webb while Jami Webb was crying quietly.
Tan’s family, friends, and clients have always described bright, curious, hardworking, and affectionate women.
Some called her her Chinese name Xiaojie, or Jay for short. Others knew her by her American name, Emily.
She was full of smiles and laughter. Michael Webb, an American businessman who met Tan while traveling to China for work in the early 2000s, said he was happy to be around.
“She was interested in becoming an American.”
Tan was the youngest of two girls born to a Catholic cycling father and mother in a communist country.
Michael Webb and Tan met in their hometown of Nanning on the border with Vietnam. Neither could pronounce the other’s words well, but the couple did not stop falling in love.
They traveled all over China for courtship, visiting cities that Westerners wouldn’t normally see, passing through rice fields, and spending time dodging cows working in the fields, Michael Webb said.
I was fascinated by her beauty. He also came to love Jami, who was 11 or 12 at the time, he said.
The couple got married in 2004. About 110 people from all over the world attended the wedding. He took his new family to Port St. Lucie, Florida in 2006 and legally adopted him. His Americanized name is a combination of his mother and his Michael’s name.
Michael Webb’s old friend Teal Clark met Tan on the second day in the United States.
Clark said he remembers Tan riding with them in the car and turning her head left and right to look out of her window.
Everything was new to her. Clark said she was a very curious woman. Clark approached Tan while learning English.
They celebrated holidays like July 4th and Thanksgiving. Clark and Tan are planning a match for their daughter of the same age.
Thiel said Tan learned business and she wanted to go to school as soon as possible.
She was very interested in becoming an American, Clark said of Tan, who became a naturalized American citizen and first registered as a voter in 2012.
It was not surprising to Clark that Tan owned two businesses within 15 years of becoming a manicurist. She said Tan was always very smart in accounting and knew how to find deals for all kinds of products.
The family moved to Georgia in 2010. A few months later, when she opened a nail salon in downtown Marietta Square, a suburb of Atlanta, she realized Tan’s dream of becoming a business owner.
Tan himself bought two single-family homes and one commercial property.
She worked hard. And he was very successful with it, Michael Webb said.
The couple separated in 2012, but continued to raise their daughter. They cried together at the graduation ceremony of her daughter, who graduated from the University of Georgia in 2019.
Contractor Michael Webb closed COVID-19 last year to help remodel his second business, Young’s Asian Massage.
She worked every day, but she still had time to meet him, and she sometimes dropped in at his office for lunch.
She always said, “We are a family,” said Michael Webb. Even if she gets divorced, she says, “We are a family.” Because it was his appearance.
Customers and friends resentful of rumors
When filming Young’s Asian Massage on Tuesday, an armed gunner killed Tan and killed two clients there on a date night.
The victims were mothers, wives, friends and bosses. Delaina Ashley Yaun (33 years old), Paul Andre Michels (54 years old) and Daoyou Feng (44 years old) were also killed. Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, was injured, but she survived. Other victims were not immediately identified.
A statement from an archer accusing the company of providing a way out of sexual addiction raised questions about the company and whether the women working there were already vulnerable to violence and abuse.
USA TODAY found 39 reviews of Young’s Asian Massage on Rubmaps.ch. This is a review site that shows the danger of illegal activities. By comparison, each of the other entities in the list had 100 reviews.
Tan was listed as the owner of a limited liability company related to Young’s Asian Massage. LLC also owns the adjacent Kenneth Spa, Wang’s Feet & Body Massage. This spa is listed on Rubmaps without any reviews.
USA TODAY did not find any criminal reports associated with any location. A local government spokesman said Young’s Asian massages are taking place in a quiet strip mall.
On Yelp, Wang’s Feet is rated 4½ out of 5 stars. One reviewer rated the owner as the kindest, kindest, and sweetest person, and praised the safety protocol within the scope of COVID-19.
According to another reviewer, they are always good at service, friendliness, and price.
Some customers were outraged by rumors spread on social media and the media.
Greg Hinson, a longtime friend and client of Tan’s Salon, said he rushed to the spa while police were still responding. Hinson, 54, saw Tan, a tall masseuse with stiff shoulders, for about six years, and he said they lived in the area and became friends.
He said he was the sweetest person you’ve ever met. My heart was in my throat second I found it. It doesn’t seem to be real yet.
Mr. Hyson said Tan is a hard-working small business owner and is highly regarded as an owner. He always had friendly words and said that when he came to the spa he had a cake waiting for him on his October birthday. Heison said he usually stopped by at least a few times a month.
He said there were regular deliveries of women working at the spa. Usually because they opened their own spa in the area after working in Tan for months or years … he said the workers were mostly Chinese immigrants.
Mr. Hyson, who runs a rubber supply business started by her father, said that when Tan’s staff first arrived from China, they often lived in large homes near her and made money primarily for her family. I said that. I said. I said. He said he seemed to be focused.
He angryly rejected speculation that Tan’s spa provided sexual services.
You come here to get a massage. She said that all these girls who have worked for her for years are working for her at their own free will. They are here for a better life. They are diligent and diligent, and all the money they earn is used to improve the lives of their families.
According to Hyson, Tan stopped by the spa and she last met when she chatted over the weekend.
He said he couldn’t say anything why he wanted to do scary things with such nice people. I can’t solve it. I can’t believe he’s gone.
Say goodbye to his mother and best friend
Jami Webb says her mother is obsessed with her travel ideas, she devours the client’s travel story and adds her new destination to her career list each time she returns from the trip. .. .. she said she was. Alaska. Europe. Sweden.
Every time I entered a customer, I asked the same question: where were they traveling?
If it is a new location or country, it will be added to itself.