Hyun Jung Grant, killed in Atlanta shootings, was a ‘loving’ single mom who lived for her sons

DULUTH, Georgia — Randy Park, 22, is waiting for police to give him his mother’s body. Then he will plan her funeral and bury her. 

Since her death, Park has become the head of his family’s household. He has to make sure he and his younger brother are taken care of. That they have a home. Food to eat. 

Since his mother was killed and became national news, there has been no time to grieve. There is only what comes next.

Park’s mom, Hyun Jung Grant, or 현정, 51, was killed Tuesday when a gunman attacked three Asian spas in the Atlanta area, killing eight and wounding one. Six of the victims were Asian women. 

Grant was a single mom to Park and his 21-year-old brother, Eric Park, working long hours at Gold Spa, a job that required her to be away from home for days or weeks at a time. 

When she was with her sons, she always made time for meals, for music, for dancing. They live in Duluth, a city known as Koreatown in Georgia with its plethora of Korean-owned businesses and restaurants. 

To Park, none of the restaurants stood close to his mom’s home-cooked meals. His favorite dish was a Korean stew known as 김치찌개, or kimchi jjigae.

“I would eat like three bowls of it every day. Apparently, it’s an unhealthy amount,” said Park. “Everybody says this about their mom’s cooking. I don’t think I’ll ever have better kimchi jjigae anywhere else. Not even in Korea.”

Park said his mom was a teenager at heart. She loved to hang out with friends, go dancing, listen to Dutch DJ Tiësto and sing karaoke. She was a great singer, he said.  

“She dedicated her whole life to raising us and even then she found time to enjoy herself with her friends,” he said.

To Park, Grant was more than just “mom.” She was one of his best friends. He is his mother’s son, he said, from his face to his personality, filled with kindness and understanding.  

“I could say whatever word comes to my head for her, but it doesn’t encompass a fraction of what she meant to us,” he said. “I can’t articulate or express in any way describe what she was or what she meant to us.”

Park learned of his mother’s death Tuesday shortly after the shooting. He grabbed his brother and drove the 30 minutes to Gold Spa. He’d never seen where she worked.