ATLANTA — Three years after the metro Atlanta spa shootings, family members of the victims shared stories about their loved ones. Among them is the sister of Delaina Ashley Yaun-Gonzalez, who was murdered at the first shooting near Stockbridge.
"My family has taken a pretty big hit because she was the rock," Dana Toole said of her sister.
Gonzales was one of eight people shot and killed on March 16, 2021.
"She was on a date night with her husband; if I can recall back, she was in room six, and he was in room seven; she was killed, and my sister’s husband survived," she recollected.
Delaina and three others were killed at Young's Asian Massage parlor in Cherokee County. Atlanta Police said less than an hour later, three more women were shot and killed at Gold Spa on Piedmont Road, and another woman was killed across the street at Aromatherapy Spa.
The events are now referred to as the Atlanta spa shootings, and six of the eight killed were Asian women, which sparked questions on whether the crimes were racially motivated. In Cherokee County, Robert Aaron Long entered a guilty plea to four counts of murder and a judge sentenced him to life in prison. Long is still awaiting trial in Fulton County for the shootings in Atlanta.
"The fact that Robert Aaron Long is still here and she’s not and he’s the reason she’s not, it bothers me," Toole said.
However, she said she’s trying to redirect the negative energy and focus on the positives - like the fun memories she had with her sister.
"I smacked her on her 33rd birthday in the face with a cake, and I took a picture with her," she recalled. "And somebody recorded me getting her with a water hose, washing the cake off and, at the same time, rubbing it in, and she was like, 'Thank you, Dana, I needed that,' and I can hear her voice in my head. So there are certain things that, if I remember, it hits me."
Toole said despite the tragedy, she will always remember her sister.
"I will never forget what happened to her, but I’m trying to learn how to make it easier for me to go through. Not forgetting my sister, but remembering the best parts of my sister," she said.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has previously said she intends to pursue the death penalty against the accused shooter.