Monterey Park: The hunt for the gunman who killed 10 people at a ballroom dance club during Lunar New Year celebrations came to an end on Sunday after officers found him dead in his van after shooting himself after people foiled a second shooting attempt. Had done it. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna identified the man as 72-year-old Hu Can Tran and said no other suspects were at large.
Speaking at an evening news conference, he said the motive for the attack, which wounded 10 more, was unclear. Luna did not have the exact ages of the victims, but said they all appeared to be over 50. Seven of the injured are in hospital, he said. The sheriff said the suspect was carrying what was described as a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and a second handgun was discovered in the van where Tran was found dead.
The shooting late Saturday in the Asian American community of Monterey Park overshadowed New Year’s festivities and sent a wave of fear through Asian American communities in the Los Angeles area. Other cities sent additional officers to oversee the celebrations. Speaking at the news conference, Congresswoman Judy Chu said she still had questions about the attack, but hoped residents now felt safe. “The community was horrified, thinking they shouldn’t go to an event because there was an active shooter,” Chu said, adding, “You are no longer in danger. What was the motive of this shooter?” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, law enforcement officials surrounded the van and entered the van for hours before letting it go. A man’s body appeared to have fallen over the wheel and was later removed from the vehicle. Luna had previously released a picture of an Asian man who was believed to be the suspect. Van was found in Torrance, another community home to many Asian Americans about 22 miles (34.5 kilometers) from the second location.
Luna said five women and five men were killed and 10 others were wounded in the shooting at the Star Ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park. Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said Sunday evening that officers were on the scene within three minutes of receiving the call. There, he saw widespread carnage inside and people trying to escape through all the doors. “When they came to the parking lot it was chaos,” Wiese said.
About 20 to 30 minutes after the first attack, the gunman entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in the nearby Alhambra. But according to Luna, the men snatched weapons from him before he could escape. Hours earlier, Luna said officers were looking for a white van after witnesses saw the suspect flee the Alhambra in such a vehicle.
Members of the SWAT team entered the van a short time later and viewed its contents before leaving. The massacre was the country’s fifth mass murder this month. It was also the deadliest attack since May 24, when 21 people were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people on the east end of Los Angeles and is made up mostly of Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans. Shooting took place in its city center where red lanterns decorated the streets for the Lunar New Year celebration. A police car was parked near a large banner that read ‘Happy Year of the Rabbit!’.
The celebration in Monterey Park is one of California’s largest. Two days of festivities were planned, which in previous years have been attended by over 100,000 people. But officials canceled Sunday’s event after the shootings.
When Tony Lai, 35, of Monterey Park went out for his morning walk, he was stunned to learn that the noises he heard the night before were gunshots. “I thought maybe it was fireworks. I thought maybe it had something to do with Lunar New Year,” he said.
Wynn Liaw, 57, who lives about two blocks from the Monterey Park studios, said she was shocked that such a crime would happen, especially during New Year’s celebrations. “Chinese people, they consider Chinese New Year very, very special”? A time when “you don’t do anything that will bring bad luck for the whole year,” she said. She took a photo of the activity outside the studio to send to relatives and friends in China “to let them know how crazy America is going to be with all these mass shootings even in the new year.”
The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub. Aides said President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the situation. Biden said he and First Lady Jill Biden were thinking of those killed and injured, and directed federal authorities to support the investigation.
Star Ballroom Dance Studio is a few blocks from City Hall on the main thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park, a strip mall dotted with small businesses whose signs are in both English and Chinese. Both Cantonese and Mandarin are widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated and Chinese films are shown regularly in the city.