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Eleven people have died after a gunman opened fire in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California late Saturday night, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department—amid the city's first Lunar New Year celebration since before the pandemic.
The attack, in a city that is two-thirds Asian American, is the deadliest mass killing in the nation since a shooting in Uvalde, Texas left 21 people dead last May. At least 10 others were injured as of Sunday.
The suspect, identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, remained at large for most of Sunday before police closed in on the van he is believed to have used to flee the site of a second attempted shooting in nearby Alhambra. Investigators discovered several license plates in the van that appeared to be stolen.
Tran shot and killed himself before police could take him into custody, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday night. Officials say it is too early to determine the cause of the attack but have not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime.
Authorities are still in the process of identifying victims, who appear to be in their 50s or 60s, said Luna, who had noted earlier in the day that police were providing minimal details about the victims in a bid to avoid endangering them further.
An unidentified individual had called in a threat to the hospital where some of the victims were being treated, saying “something along the lines [of] that they want to go and finish the job,” Luna said.
He confirmed Sunday night that there are no outstanding suspects.
“I still have questions in my mind, which is, what was the motive for this shooter? Did he have a mental illness? Was he a domestic violence abuser? How did he get these guns, and was it through legal means?” Rep. Judy Chu (D-California), who represents Monterey Park and started her political career in the city, said at the Sunday night news conference. “Those questions will have to be answered in the future.”
The shooting has heightened fear among Asian Americans nationwide during one of the community’s most important cultural events of the year. That the gunman has been identified as an Asian person doesn’t exclude the possibility of hate, misogyny, or ethnic discrimination as a motive. Asian American leaders have also expressed concern that the shooting itself could encourage or fuel other acts of violence against the community in the following weeks.
The attack is a brutal reminder of the violence and scapegoating that have forced Asian Americans to constantly look over their shoulders for the past two years. It continues a pattern of death that gained visibility with the assault on Vicha Ratanapakdee, Yao Pan Ma’s killing, Christina Yuna Lee’s stabbing, mass shootings in Atlanta and Indianapolis—and more.
How it happened
Around 10:20 p.m. on Saturday, Tran opened fire at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, just hours after thousands flooded the streets to attend the city's Lunar New Year festival, according to local authorities.
Dozens of people, some with injuries, were running out of the studio when the first officer arrived at the scene three minutes later, Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said Sunday night. It was “chaos.”
Ten people—five men and five women—were pronounced dead on the scene, police said. An eleventh person died in a hospital after sustaining injuries, health officials announced Monday.
Several others were injured and transported to nearby hospitals where their conditions range from stable to critical.
About 20 minutes later, Tran entered another dance studio, Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio, in nearby Alhambra. He likely intended to kill more people, Luna said. But two community members attempted to disarm him, forcing him to flee.
The Monterey Park dance studio, located on a busy block dotted with Asian food vendors, is a regular venue for dancers of all ages, mostly Asian American. Its class schedule is posted online in English and Chinese.
On a Saturday night, hundreds of people would have been at the studio, one Orange County dance instructor told The New York Times.
Star Ballroom said in a statement Monday that the studio would be closed until further notice. “What should have been a festive night to welcome the first day of the Lunar New Year turned into a tragedy,” the statement read. “In this time of healing, we hope that all those who were affected have the space to grieve and process what transpired within the last 24 hours.”
Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris released statements Sunday expressing their grief and prayers for the victims. “Even as we continue searching for answers about this attack, we know how deeply this attack has impacted the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community,” Biden said.
“All this afternoon, the community was in fear, thinking that they should not go to any events because there was an active shooter,” Chu, who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said Sunday night. “What I want to do here is to say to the community: Feel safe. You are no longer in danger because this shooter is gone.”
“I told you this morning I’ve lived in this city for 37 years … and I said that this community is resilient,” she added. “What I saw today and what I see at this moment is indeed we are resilient—and we are stronger together.”
America’s first ethnoburb
Of the 60,000 people who call Monterey Park home, about 65% identify as Asian American and about 27% identify as Hispanic, according to U.S. Census estimates.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
In the early 1970s, large numbers of Chinese immigrants moved into the area, opening restaurants, markets, and other businesses that transformed the neighborhood into a “bustling international boomtown,” details author Timothy Fong in his 1994 book “The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California.”
But some older white and Latino residents resisted the growth of the Chinese population, sparking efforts to tighten immigration rules and battles over language, including a resolution to declare English the city’s official language and pass English-only ordinances in the late 1980s. Following demonstrations led by the Asian American community, the measure failed in a moment that some leaders said signaled a political coming of age, notes the Los Angeles Times.
Today, Monterey Park is led and represented by three Asian Americans: Mayor Henry Lo (D), California Assemblymember Mike Fong (D), and Chu, the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress.
Lunar New Year celebrations in Monterey Park were canceled on Sunday. Other cities across the U.S. have also shored up security for local celebrations in anticipation of possible copycats, CNN reports.
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