Suspect in Atlanta Spa Attacks Is Charged With 8 Counts of Murder

“We have no choice,” said Ms. Enciso, 46, returning to work at the beauty salon next door to Young’s Asian Massage. “Life can’t slow down,” she said. “We came in fear: Imagine, we are Hispanic, and some people hate us too.”

Far beyond the Atlanta region, Asian-American leaders were bracing after the killings.

“There are a lot of people who are even afraid to leave the house now,” said Max Leung, the founder of a group called the SF Peace Collective, which patrols streets in San Francisco to protect Asian communities from violence. “They’re afraid to go outside.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Sierra Houang, a Georgia Tech student, came with a friend to lay flowers at the two Atlanta massage parlors.

“I don’t usually have to deal with anti-Asian sentiment because I pass as white,” said Ms. Houang, whose father is Taiwanese. “I carry a lot of guilt because my grandparents and my dad bore a lot of that burden. They worked hard so I would never have to be in a place where I’d know that. Still, this feels very personal to me.”

After leaving the flowers at the spas on Piedmont Road, Ms. Houang and her friend said they were headed for the massage parlor in Cherokee County to pay their respects there as well.

Richard Fausset reported from Acworth, Campbell Robertson from Pittsburgh, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs from New York, and Sean Keenan from Atlanta. Reporting was contributed by Edgar Sandoval and Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio from New York; Frances Robles from Key West, Fla., Ruth Graham from Warner, N.H.; John Eligon from Kansas City, Mo.; Marie Fazio from Jacksonville, Fla.; and Jim Tankersley from Washington.