The person who was suspected of killing several people at a dance studio in Southern California on Saturday night shot himself in the head on Sunday morning.
At least 10 people were killed and at least 10 were hurt in the attack, which is still being looked into, law enforcement officials told the press on Sunday evening. The shooter has been named Huu Can Tran, an Asian man who is 72 years old.
Photo of the 72-year old suspect in the Monterey Park shooting, Huu Can Tran, who is now dead. pic.twitter.com/XgeRyPLBww
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) January 23, 2023
The shooting happened in Monterey Park, California, which is outside of Los Angeles. It is mostly made up of Asian Americans and was once called the “first suburban Chinatown.”
Authorities said that after the shooter opened fire at one dance studio, he seemed to have gone to a second one in nearby Alhambra, California, which is also mostly made up of Asian Americans. Two people were able to take his gun away from him, and he ran away.
At a press conference on Sunday, Sheriff Robert Luna and other local leaders praised the bravery of the two community members who took the suspect’s gun at the second scene and may have stopped another tragedy from happening. Luna said, “This could have been much worse.”
For up-to-date information, here is some news coverage from the past few days that pertain to shootings:
- Violent Protests Erupt in Atlanta Over Fatal Shooting of Activist.
- Indiana police claim Walmart shooter Urged Workers to Line Up Against Wall at Nightly Meeting.
The US congresswoman for Monterey Park, Judy Chu, told people in the area, “You are no longer in danger.” She also said that it was still unclear why two dance studios in the area were targeted.
“What was the motive for this shooting?” Chu asked. “Was he a domestic violence abuser? How did he get these guns? Was it through legal means or not? These questions will have to be answered in the future.”
So far, only two weapons have been officially identified. One of them is a handgun with a large magazine that lets the shooter fire more shots without stopping to reload. Luna said that the gun found in Alhambra was a magazine-fed semiautomatic assault pistol with a high-capacity magazine. This type of gun may be against the law in California.
BREAKING NEWS: Monterey Park mass shooting suspect is 72-year-old Asian man who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; motive remains unclear, sheriff says. https://t.co/MPjgQRmzjX pic.twitter.com/RRnWMhOdSx
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 23, 2023
Luna said that another handgun was found in the white van where the suspect was found this morning. Sunday afternoon, SWAT cars and other police cars surrounded the van for a few hours before officers went inside. Local TV news cameras showed the whole thing live.
Five men and five women were killed at the dance studio, and 10 other people were hurt and taken to nearby hospitals, according to law enforcement officials.
Dance teachers at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park told news outlets that most of the studio’s customers were Asian Americans over the age of 50. Luna said that the coroner’s office was still trying to figure out who the dead people were, but it looked like many of them were in their 50s and 60s.
The brutal attack in the middle of the town happened during a celebration of the lunar new year, which is a holiday for billions of Asians and Asians living in other parts of the world.
The shooting was the deadliest in months, and it came after years of worry for Asian Americans across the US. Since right-wing politicians, including Donald Trump, called Covid-19 the “China virus,” there have been more hate crimes against Asian Americans.
A report by Stop AAPI Hate says that there were more than 11,400 hate crimes against Asian Americans in the US between March 2020, when the first Covid lockdowns were put in place, and March 2022. California has the most Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of any state in the US, and it also had the most hate crimes.
A separate study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that hate crimes against Asian Americans rose by 39% across the country in 2021 compared to 2020.
Henry Lo, the mayor of Monterey Park, said that the shooter’s death was “justice,” but he also said that the healing process was “just beginning.”
“Our priority is to make sure those victims, their family members, are given the assistance they need to heal and get over their trauma,” Lo said, referencing what he expects will be “a long process of healing as a community”.
The man who was thought to be involved in the shooting in Monterey Park was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A 72-year-old Asian guy named Huu Can Tran has been officially named the shooter.
The attack, which killed at least 10 people and hurt at least 10, is still being looked into… What do you think of the steadily rising number of mass shootings that have occurred in recent years? Share your thoughts below.
