A shooter kills 10 people at a dance club in California.motive unknown

Monterey Park, California – Authorities are investigating the motives behind the murder of 10 people at a ballroom dance club in the Los Angeles area during the Lunar New Year celebrations. wave of terror It casts a shadow on festivals across the country through the local Asian American community.

The suspect was found Sunday and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a van that authorities said he fled after people blocked a second shooting attempt on Saturday night.

The massacre was the fifth mass murder in the country this month. It was also the worst attack since the May 24 incident that killed 21 of his children at an elementary school. Uvalde, Texas.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the man had been identified as 72-year-old Fu Kang Tran and that no other suspects were on the run. He said people were injured, seven of whom were still hospitalized. At a press conference Sunday night, sheriffs said it appeared that all those killed were over the age of 50, although their exact ages were not known.

The suspect was carrying what Luna described as a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and a second handgun was found in the van where Tran died.

Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wease said officers arrived at Monterey Park’s Star Ballroom Dance Studio within three minutes of receiving the call on Sunday night. We found people trying to escape from every door.

“When they entered the parking lot, it was chaos,” Wiese said.

About 20 to 30 minutes after the initial attack, the gunmen broke into the Lai Lai Ballroom in the nearby city of the Alhambra. According to Luna, people took weapons from him and witnesses said he fled in a white van.

The van was found about 22 miles (34.5 km) from its second location in Torrance, another community with a large Asian-American population.

After surrounding the vehicle for hours, law enforcement officers swarmed inside. A human body appears to have fallen over the wheels and was later removed. SWAT team members looked through the contents of the van before leaving.

The sheriff’s office previously released a photo of an Asian man believed to be the suspect.

Congresswoman Judy Chu said she still had questions about the attack but hoped residents would be safe.

“Communities were horrified because they thought they shouldn’t go to the event because there was a shooting,” Chu said at a press conference on Sunday.

“What is this shooter’s motive?” she said. “Did he have a mental illness? Was he a domestic violence abuser? How did he get these guns? Was it through legal means? “

Monterey Park is a city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles with a population of about 60,000, mostly made up of Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans. The shooting occurred in the heart of the downtown area, where red lanterns adorned the streets for the Chinese New Year celebrations. A police car was parked near a large banner that read, “Happy New Year!”

The celebration at Monterey Park is one of the largest in California. In the past few years he has planned his two-day celebration which has been attended by as many as 100,000 people. But authorities canceled Sunday’s event following the shooting.

Tony Lai, 35, of Monterey Park, went for an early morning walk and was stunned to discover that the noise he heard at night was gunshots.

“I thought it was fireworks. I thought it might have something to do with Chinese New Year,” he said. “Also, there aren’t many fireworks here. It’s strange to see this. It’s really safe here. It’s in the middle of the city, but it’s very safe.”

Ann Associate Press/USA Today database A study of genocide in the United States shows that 2022 was one of the worst years in the United States, with 42 attacks. This is the second highest number since the tracker was created in 2006. .

California Governor Gavin Newsom visited Monterey Park on Sunday to meet with victims, their families and local officials.

President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have been briefed on the situation, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Biden and Mrs. Jill Biden said they were thinking of the casualties.

According to the Star Ballroom Dance Studio website, the event is called “Star Night” on Saturdays from 8pm to 11:30pm. The studio is located a few blocks from City Hall on Garvey Avenue, a strip mall-dotted boulevard in Monterey Park. of a small business whose signage is in both English and Chinese. Both Cantonese and Mandarin are widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated, and Chinese films are regularly shown in the city.

Win Liau, 57, who lives about two blocks from his Monterey Park studio, said he was shocked to see such crimes, especially during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

“The Chinese consider Lunar New Year to be very special,” she said.

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Contributed by AP journalists Andrew Dalton, Jae C. Hong and Eugene Garcia. AP journalist Julie Watson contributed from San Diego.