Monterey Park shooting: 10 killed at Lunar New Year celebration, suspect dies of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound

Ten people were killed and 10 others were wounded in a shooting in Monterey Park, Calif., and the suspect has died, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday. The suspect, identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Luna said.

Luna said earlier Sunday that law enforcement was dealing with a “suspected suspect situation” in Torrance. Luna said police stopped a white van at 10:20 a.m. local time on Sunday. According to Luna, the van then pulled into the mall parking lot and police heard a gunshot from inside the vehicle. At 12:52 p.m., officers in tactical gear and armor approached the van and found the suspect dead.

Luna said police recovered a handgun from inside the vehicle.

Police say there are no apparent suspects and they still don’t know a motive for the crime.

Five men and five women were killed and 10 others were injured in a shooting late Saturday night at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, Luna said. Then, 20 to 30 minutes later, the suspect entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in the nearby Alhambra.

Police were called to the scene of the shooting shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday and found 10 people injured outside the Star Dance Studio. The 10 wounded were taken to a local hospital, where seven remained there as of Sunday night, Luna said. Luna said late Sunday that the victims all appeared to be at least 50 years old.

A magazine-fed semi-automatic assault pistol with a high-capacity magazine was recovered at the Alhambra site, Luna said. He said he doesn’t think the weapon is legal in California, but more “research” is needed.

“He walked in with a gun and some guy took the gun out of his hand and that guy just ran,” Luna said earlier Sunday.

The dramatic scene involving the white van was filmed overhead by a news helicopter, with multiple armored vehicles parked in front, sides and rear of the van, with officers in camouflage and body armor behind one of the police vehicles.

california shooting
SWAT officers surround an undetected van on Sunday, Jan. 22 in Torrance, Calif. On February 22, 2023, a mass shooting at a dance club after Lunar New Year celebrations sparked a manhunt for suspects.

Damian Dovarganes/AP


Luna said Sunday afternoon that a victim center had been set up and urged anyone who suspected a family member had been to the ballroom to do so.

Monterey Park is a city of approximately 60,000 people located on the eastern edge of Los Angeles. Most of its residents are Asian immigrants or their descendants, most of them Chinese. The dance studio in downtown Monterey Park is just a few blocks from City Hall on the main thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, a strip mall dotted with small businesses with signs in English and Chinese. Both Cantonese and Mandarin are widely spoken, Chinese festivals are celebrated, and Chinese films are screened in the city.

california shooting
Investigators gather at the scene of a shooting in Monterey Park, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 1. 22, 2023.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press


Federal agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene assisting local police, and White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said President Biden had been updated on the shooting.

“Jill and I are thinking of those who were killed and wounded in last night’s deadly mass shooting in Monterrey,” Mr Bush said. Biden said in a statement Sunday night. “While there is still much we don’t know about the motives for this senseless attack, we know that many families are grieving tonight, or praying for their loved ones to heal from their wounds.”

gentlemen. Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-mast on Thursday until sunset.

Local resident Wei Huang told the Los Angeles Times that his friend was in the dance studio and she was in the bathroom when the shooting happened. When she emerged from the bathroom, she saw a gunman and three bodies – two women and a man who was said to be the studio owner.

The friend then fled home around 11 p.m., Wei said, adding that his friend told him the shooter appeared to be firing indiscriminately with a long gun. “They didn’t know why, so they ran,” he told the paper.

Mr. Horse’s friend, Peter Fong, an instructor at the dance studio, told CBS News that Mr. Horse was among those killed in the shooting. As of Sunday night, none of the victims had been officially identified.

officials also investigation The second incident occurred shortly after the shooting at Monterey Park in Alhambra, about two miles away, in order to see if the two incidents were related.

Preliminary reports indicate that detectives searched Alhambra’s Le Lay Ballroom and Studios early Sunday morning, where an armed suspect — who may have matched the description of the Monterey Park shooter — was disarmed by customers and fled got in there. Authorities are investigating whether the suspect left the scene of the Monterey Park shooting and went to the Alhambra dance studio, CBS Los Angeles reported. No one was injured in the second fight, officials said.

Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that investigators are conducting ballistic analysis of a weapon found at the Alhambra scene in an attempt to determine whether it was connected to the Monterey Park shooting and whether the individual was the same suspect. Police said the weapons recovered from the Alhambra were not assault weapons.

A Neighbor at Monterey Park Studios told cbs los angeles The gunshots sounded like fireworks, but he didn’t think much of it because of the local celebrations.

Sunday’s music festival in Monterey Park has been cancelled, officials said.

Videos posted on social media showed people being loaded onto stretchers and taken to ambulances. Other photos showed Monterey Park firefighters treating bloodied and bandaged victims in a parking lot.

Pat Milton contributed reporting.

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