USA : Mass shooting gunman in Monterey Park is dead

The culprit in a shooting in Monterey Park, California, that killed ten people and injured ten more is dead, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. The suspect, Huu Can Tran, 72, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to officials.

This was the country’s fifth mass killing this month. It was also the bloodiest incident since May 24, when 21 people were slain at an Uvalde, Texas primary school.

Officers in the city of Torrance were dealing with a “barricaded suspect issue” when they pulled up a white van at 10:20 a.m. The van then pulled into a parking lot at a retail centre, and cops heard a single gunshot from inside. At 12:52 p.m., officers wearing tactical gear and armour approached the van and discovered the suspect dead. Inside the vehicle, a pistol was discovered.

Law enforcement personnel are seen outside the site in Torrance, California, where the alleged suspect in the mass shooting in which 10 people were killed in Monterey Park, California, was believed to be holed up on Jan. 22, 2023. Photo: Robyn Beck/GETTY IMAGES

News helicopters filmed the dramatic scenario involving the van, with numerous armoured vehicles positioned in front of, to the side of, and behind the van, with cops in fatigues and body armour in the rear of one of the police cars.

There are no additional suspects, according to police, and no motive has been established.

According to reports, the shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park late Saturday night killed five men and five women and injured ten more. The suspect then entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in adjacent Alhambra 20 to 30 minutes later.

“He stepped in there with a pistol, and other people pulled it away from him, and that person took off,” Luna said early Sunday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna speaks during a news conference in Monterey Park, California on January 22. Photo: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Luna, the county sheriff, stated that the Alhambra site yielded a magazine-fed semi-automatic assault handgun with an extended big-capacity magazine. He feels that sort of weapon is illegal in California, but additional “study” is required.

According to two law enforcement sources, detectives are doing a ballistic analysis of the weapon seized at the scene in Alhambra to establish whether the weapon is linked to the Monterey Park incident and whether the individual was the same suspect.

Officers arrived on the site of the Monterey Park incident just after 10 p.m. Saturday in response to a complaint of shots fired and discovered 10 persons injured outside the Star Dance Studio. They were transferred to local hospitals, where seven remained as of Sunday night, according to Luna. Luna reported Sunday night that the fatalities seemed to be at least 50 years old.

Luna said on Sunday afternoon that a victim centre had been established and invited anybody who thought a family member had been at the dance club to go.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were on the scene supporting local police, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden had been informed of the shooting.

“Jill and I are thinking of those killed and injured in last night’s deadly mass shooting in Monterey Par,” Mr Biden said in a statement Sunday night. “While there is still much we don’t know about the motive in this senseless attack, we do know that many families are grieving tonight, or praying that their loved one will recover from their wounds.”

The President has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff until Thursday at sunset.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his visit to Monterey Park on Instagram on Sunday.

“This community has great strength. This continual stream of gun violence terrorizes no other country in the world. We require comprehensive national gun control “Newsom stated.

Tran’s ex-wife told CNN that she met Tran around 20 years ago at the Star Ballroom and that “although Tran was never aggressive to her… he could be quick to react.” According to CNN, “another long-time associate of Tran’s remembers him as a frequent visitor at the dancing studio.”

Wong Wei, a local, told the Los Angeles Times that his acquaintance was at the dancing class and was in the restroom when the gunfire started. When she came out of the restroom, she saw a shooter and three bodies — two ladies and the studio’s boss, according to him.

Investigators gather at a scene where a shooting took place in Monterey Park, California, on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023.  Photo: Jae C. Hong / AP

Wei claimed his companion then escaped to his house at 11 p.m., adding that the gunman seemed to fire randomly with a long rifle. “They don’t know why, so they flee,” he explained to the publication.

Peter Fong, a friend of “Mr Ma,” one of the dancing studio’s teachers, informed CBS News that “Mr Ma” was among those murdered in the incident. As of Sunday night, none of the fatalities had been formally identified.

One neighbour of the Monterey Park studio told CBS Los Angeles that the gunshots sounded like fireworks, but he didn’t think much of it because of the nearby celebrations.

Monterey Park is a community of around 60,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The bulk of its inhabitants are Asian immigrants or their descendants, and the majority of them are Chinese. The dancing studio in downtown Monterey Park is just a few blocks from city hall on Garvey Avenue, which is studded with strip malls filled with tiny businesses with signage in both English and Chinese. Cantonese and Mandarin are widely spoken, Chinese festivals are observed, and Chinese films are shown across the city.

The Monterey Park celebration has been cancelled for Sunday, according to authorities.