Atlanta Spa Shooting: Who was Xiaojie Tan? Tragic story of mom whose daughter spent 50th birthday planning funeral
Xiaojie Tan aka Emily, as she was known to most, was supposed to celebrate her 50th birthday on Tuesday, March 16. Her daughter Jami Webb had planned to celebrate with a fresh strawberry cream cake. Instead, Webb was forced to spend the day planning Tan's funeral. Tan was one of the four victims of the shooting rampage by Robert Aaron Long at Young's Asian Massage parlor, which Tan owned.
The Chinese-American's story is an ideal example of the American dream. She came to America and moved from being a simple nail technician to running not one but multiple businesses. That dream, however, was shattered by the violence that day. Tan is survived by her 29-year-old daughter and her ex-husband Michael.
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Young's parlor in Acworth, Cherokee County, was the first of three locations attacked by Long before he was apprehended by police. Tan was listed as the owner of the limited liability corporation associated with Young’s Asian Massage and Wang’s Feet & Body Massage, a spa in neighboring Kennesaw. Here's everything we know about the victim.
Who was Xiaojie Tan?
The 50-year-old was born and raised in Nanning, China before moving to the US in 2006. She met Michael Webb in the early 2000s near Vietnam. The couple soon fell in love and were married in a lavish ceremony in 2004. Webb then brought Tan and Jami to Florida, where Jami was legally adopted. In 2012, Tan was naturalized and voted for the first time. “She was very invested in becoming an American,” Teal Clark, a longtime friend of Michael Webb's told USA Today.
Tan's drive and dedication allowed her to quickly adapt to America, and within 15 years own a business. She was also a licensed massage therapist. The family moved to Georgia in 2010, where Tan was able to open a nail salon in downtown Marietta square outside of Atlanta. As the business grew, she was able to buy two single-family homes and commercial property.
Unfortunately, Tan and Webb split up in 2012 but remained close as they raised Jami, who graduated in 2019 from the University of Georgia. “Even when we got divorced, she’d say that: ‘We family’. Because that’s how she was,” Michael said.
The shocking death of Tan has caused outrage in the community. “She was the sweetest person you’d ever meet," Greg Hynson, a longtime friend and customer said. "My heart was in my throat the second I heard of it. It still doesn’t seem real." Tan's family is still struggling to come to terms with her death."
Jami said Tan's sister, Tan Mei, had heart problems and needed to be put on oxygen when she found out about the killings. Tan's mother isn't aware of her daughter's fate, according to Jami. "She kept asking to talk to my mom. We told my grandma that my mom lost her phone and couldn't answer," Jami told USA Today.
Community outraged at Long's claims
The small Acworth community is extremely angry and upset over Long's accusation that the parlor was an outlet for sex activities. "You're coming here to get a massage. All these girls that have worked for her over the years are working for her of their own free will," Hynson said. Another individual told The Guardian, "I know that the business of running the spas and stuff are sometimes seedy and have bad reputations in the past," but he insisted that Young's was a genuine business.
A quick look at Young's page on Rubmaps, a review site that is a red flag for illicit activity, found little proof that the parlor was a venue for sex work. The business only had 39 reviews, compared to the hundreds of reviews on other businesses. There are also no criminal reports associated with Young's Parlor.
Instead, the overwhelming majority of reviews are positive on sites like Google Maps and Yelp. Many believe that the shootings were a hate crime targeting Asian-Americans, in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since the attack, Young's has become a small shrine for Tan and the other victims, with people leaving behind flowers and placards. While Tan's family in China is celebrating what should have been her 50th birthday, Jami and Michael are busy with funeral preparations. Tan's death isn't just a great loss for her family, but the Acworth community, where customers were close friends of Tan.
