January 23, 2023 Monterey Park mass shooting news

A man who encountered the suspect at the Alhambra dance hall just minutes from the scene of the massacre said he knew immediately the armed man was dangerous. 

“He was looking at me and looking around, not hiding that he was trying to do harm. His eyes were menacing,” Brandon Tsay told the New York Times. 

He was first alerted to the man’s presence when he heard the front doors at Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio close as he was working in the ticket office of the business his family has run for three generations, Tsay said.

The man pointed a semi-automatic weapon at Tsay, he told the Times, saying it was the first gun he’d seen in real life. “My heart sank, I knew I was going to die,” he said.

“From his body language, his facial expression, his eyes, he was looking for people,” Tsay said.

He struggled with the man for about a minute and a half and eventually wrestled the gun from him, Tsay told the Times. He was able to grab the weapon when the man took his hand off it, as if to manipulate it to begin shooting, Tsay said.

Once Tsay was in control of the gun, he pointed it back at the suspect and yelled for him to “get the hell out of here,” he said.

Tsay told the Times he’s still processing what happened but is heartbroken for the Monterey Park community. “We have such a tight-knit community of dancers,” he said. “It feels so terrible something like this happened, to have one of our individuals try to harm others,” he told the Times.

What authorities said about the second location: After releasing a barrage of gunfire on the people inside the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, police said the gunman drove to the second dance hall in neighboring Alhambra where he entered with a firearm but fled after being disarmed.

The suspect was later found dead Sunday inside a white cargo van after a standoff with police in Torrance, California, according to police.

Investigators in Monterey Park, California, are still searching for the motive of a gunman who killed 10 people and injured 10 others during a shooting inside a ballroom dance studio Saturday night, devastating the majority-Asian community on the eve of its Lunar New Year celebration.

The suspect, identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, was located in the nearby city of Torrance, where he died after shooting himself as police approached his vehicle, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday.

Hours earlier, a gunman had walked into Star Ballroom Dance Studio shortly before 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, not long after the city’s streets had been crowded by thousands of festival-goers, the sheriff said.

After releasing a barrage of gunfire on the people inside, the gunman drove to a second dance hall in neighboring Alhambra where he entered with a firearm but fled after being disarmed by two patrons, Luna said.

If you are just catching up, here’s what we know — and don't know — so far:

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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has obtained a search warrant for the home of a man suspected of carrying out a deadly mass shooting in Monterey Park, California on Saturday night.

The suspect, identified by police as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday afternoon inside a cargo van after a standoff with police in Torrance, California.

Tran’s residence is in a senior community called The Lakes at Hemet West, California, according to Hemet Police public information officer Alan Reyes.

The 72-year-old man suspected of killing 10 people and wounding 10 others in a shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, Saturday had previously frequented the establishment, sources told CNN.

The suspect, identified as Huu Can Tran, was pronounced dead following a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday as police swarmed a white van in Torrance, about 30 miles from Monterey Park, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

The shooting at Star Ballroom Dance Studio happened around 10:22 p.m. as the city’s large Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year weekend. About 17 to 20 minutes later, an armed man showed up at a second dance studio in nearby Alhambra where authorities say a group of people wrestled a gun away from him.

The mass shooting kicked off a manhunt across the region, with a description of a white van seen leaving the Alhambra incident broadcast to area law enforcement agencies. On Sunday morning, officers in Torrance spotted a white van that matched the description.

“When officers exited their patrol vehicle to contact the occupant, they heard one gunshot coming from within the van,” Luna said. “Officers retreated and requested several tactical teams to respond.” Then – as three armored vehicles blocked the van – the SWAT team approached and found Tran dead inside, Luna said.

Tran had once been a regular patron at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, his ex-wife and a long-time acquaintance both told CNN.

Tran’s former wife, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the case, said she met Tran about two decades ago at Star Ballroom, a popular community gathering place where he gave informal lessons. Tran saw her at a dance, introduced himself and offered her free lessons, she said. The two married soon after, she said.

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Ubiquitous gun violence in the United States has left few places unscathed over the decades. Still, many Americans hold their right to bear arms, enshrined in the US Constitution, as sacrosanct.

But critics of the Second Amendment say that right threatens another: The right to life.

America’s relationship to gun ownership is unique, and its gun culture is a global outlier.

Here’s a look at how gun culture in the US compares to the rest of the world:

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It is only the 23rd day of the year, and there have already been at least 36 mass shootings in the United States so far, according to the nonprofit organization Gun Violence Archive.

This means there have been more mass shootings this year than there have been days in 2023.

CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.

A 72-year-old man found dead after a standoff with police has been confirmed as the person suspected of carrying out a deadly mass shooting in Monterey Park, California on Saturday night, according to police.

He is suspected of opening fire at a dance studio, killing 10 people and injuring 10 more as the city’s large Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year weekend.

Here's what we know:

The man who fatally shot 10 people in a Southern California dance studio had once been a regular presence at the venue, even meeting his ex-wife there, three people who knew him told CNN.

Police say Huu Can Tran, 72, opened fire at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park, on Saturday night, before fatally shooting himself after a manhunt across the region on Sunday.

His ex-wife said in an interview that she had met Tran about two decades ago at the dance studio, a popular community gathering place where he gave informal lessons. Tran saw her at a dance, introduced himself, and offered her free lessons, she said.

The two married soon after they met, according to the ex-wife, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the case. While Tran was never violent to her, she said he could be quick to anger. For example, she said, if she missed a step dancing he would become upset because he felt it made him look bad. She said that after several years together, she got the impression that he had lost interest in her. Her sister, who also asked not to be named, confirmed her account. 

It was unclear how frequently Tran visited the dance hall, if at all, in recent years.

Tran filed for divorce in late 2005, and a judge approved the divorce the following year, Los Angeles court records show. 

Tran was an immigrant from China, according to a copy of his marriage license that his ex-wife showed to CNN.

A 5-minute drive from his home: Another long-time acquaintance of Tran’s also remembered him as a frequent presence at the dance studio. The friend, who also asked not to be named, was close to Tran in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when he said Tran would make the roughly 5-minute drive from his home in San Gabriel to Star Ballroom Dance Studio “almost every night.”

More generally, Tran was easily irritated, complained a lot, and didn’t seem to trust people, the friend said.

Tran at times worked as a truck driver, according to his ex-wife. 

Business records show that Tran registered a business called Tran’s Trucking Inc. in California in 2002. But he dissolved the firm about two years later, writing in a corporate filing that the it had never acquired any known assets or incurred any known debts or liabilities.

Bought a mobile home in Hemet: In 2013, Tran sold his San Gabriel home, which he had owned for more than two decades, property records show. 

Seven years later, records show, Tran bought a mobile home in a senior citizens community in Hemet, California, an outlying suburb about 85 miles east of Los Angeles. 

Tran’s friend said he hadn’t seen Tran in several years and was “totally shocked” when he heard about the shooting. 

The suspect in the Monterey Park mass shooting was disarmed by two people when he went to a second location on Saturday night, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

Luna had earlier disclosed that a male Asian suspect had walked into a dance hall in Alhambra and that "some individuals wrestled the firearm away from him."

"Remember, the suspect went to the Alhambra location after he conducted the shooting (in Monterey Park), and he was disarmed by two community members who I consider to be heroes," Luna said at a news conference Sunday.