Police officers stand guard near the scene of a fatal shooting Sunday in Monterey Park, California. On Saturday night, 10 people were killed and another 10 injured in a dance studio near the New Year’s party.
Eric Thayer/Getty Images
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Eric Thayer/Getty Images
Police officers stand guard near the scene of a fatal shooting Sunday in Monterey Park, California. On Saturday night, 10 people were killed and another 10 injured in a dance studio near the New Year’s party.
Eric Thayer/Getty Images
A mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, east of Los Angeles, left 10 people dead and 10 others injured this weekend.
After an hours-long search, the suspect was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Torrance, about 30 miles southwest of Monterey Park, officials said. The suspect was identified as Huu Cang Tran, a 72-year-old man.
Saturday night’s attack followed a popular holiday in the region, on the eve of the Lunar New Year in the predominantly Asian American community. Authorities have not yet identified the victims.
The reason for the shooting is unknown. The FBI and state agencies are also involved in the investigation.
The suspect targeted two separate dance studios
At approximately 10:22 p.m. local time on Saturday, a gunman opened fire inside Star Dance Studio, a Chinese-owned ballroom dance studio on West Harvey Avenue, less than a block from the Lunar New Year festival. The first day of the two-day festival has ended. The event, which officials said drew more than 100,000 people, was canceled after the shooting.
About half an hour after the attack, the same gunman entered another ballroom, the Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio, a few miles away near the Alhambra.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the suspect “went to the second location with the intention of killing more people,” but two men disarmed the suspect by grabbing the gun from him. hands.
The suspect, according to local authorities, said Luna was using a magazine-loaded handgun that they believe is uncertain about his legal status in the state.
Around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, police saw a white pickup truck in Torrance, California. The driver of the minibus stopped, the police surrounded him, and then a gunshot was heard. Authorities backed off and returned with reinforcements around 12:52 a.m. to find Tran dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Of the 10 people who died at the scene, five were women and five were men, the official representative said. The victims were taken to local hospitals in stable to critical condition. The victims are over 50 years old.
Reactions from the Asian American community
More than 65% of Monterey Park residents are Asian, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau.
The city of about 60,000 people had just finished the first day of the New Year’s holiday when the shooting happened.
The Lunar New Year, which began on Sunday, is one of the most important holidays in Asian societies, including Vietnam, China, Korea and Mongolia. The holiday historically begins on the first full moon of the lunar year, but its start date and origins can vary from culture to culture.
Monterey Park Councilman Thomas Wong, who represents the neighborhood where the shooting happened, said his community is shocked, saddened and “close by.”
“Instead of celebrating and bringing the family together to look forward to a hopeful and prosperous new year, we begin it with a senseless tragedy,” Wong told NPR.
Leaders are responsible
Monterey Park Mayor Henry Lo offered his condolences to the shooting victims and their families. at a press conferenceand said, “Moving forward, it’s important that we be there for them and provide them with the services and support they need, whatever the healing process will be in the coming weeks, months, and even years.”
Monterey Park has established a memorial at City Hall and a survivor center at the local senior center.
President Biden was briefed on the shooting.
“Jill and I are praying for those killed and injured in last night’s mass shooting in Monterey Park. I am closely monitoring the development of this situation and urge the community to heed the advice of local authorities and law enforcement immediately,” Biden said in a statement on Sunday.
California Governor Gavin Newsom was in Monterey Park after the shooting.
“The power of this community is incredible” he said. “No country in the world is immune to the constant stream of gun violence. We need real gun reform at the national level.
police services San FranciscoNew York City, Philadelphia cream and Houston said they would increase the number of officers involved in New Year’s events after the mass shooting.
The Monterey Park shooting comes in the middle of an already violent year for the United States
According to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, there were at least 33 mass shootings in the country in 2023 alone.
Records define a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are injured or killed in addition to the shooter.
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