What we know about the victims of the Georgia shootings
18 March 2021
Four of the eight people who died in a shooting spree by a 21-year-old gunman in Georgia this week have been identified by police.
Why it matters: The fact that six of the eight victims are Asian women has left Asians and Pacific Islanders across America fearful and alarmed.
Here is what we know about the victims so far:
The four identified victims from the Cherokee County shooting include: Delaina Yaun, 33; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Paul Andre Michels, 54; and Daoyou Feng, 44. The four other victims in the Atlanta area shootings have not yet been identified.
Yaun was reportedly meeting her husband for a couple's massage when the shooter broke in. Her husband made it out safely, though she did not.
- She was a mother of a 14-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter. Her loved ones believe she was a first-time customer at the spa, Fox 5 Atlanta reports.
Tan, who was originally from China and had one daughter, owned Young's Asian Massage in Acworth, Ga., the New York Times writes.
- She was murdered two days before her 50th birthday.
Feng had, per the Times, recently begun working at Tan's spa.
Michels was a businessman and U.S. Army veteran.
- The 52-year-old was one of nine siblings and had been married for over 20 years.
Of the six Asian women at the spa, four were of Korean ethnicity, per South Korea's foreign ministry.
- The ministry said Wednesday, "Our government is closely watching the situation, holding a deep interest in the safety of our compatriots overseas."
Another victim, Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, suffered a non-fatal shot to the head that traveled into his lungs. He is in intensive care, per CNN.
- Hernandez-Ortiz was a father and husband to his wife, Flora Gonzalez Gomez.
Editor's note: This story will be updated as additional information about the victims emerges.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.