10 dead near Lunar New Year fest

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. — Regulation enforcement officers swarmed and entered a white van Sunday afternoon that officers suspect was pushed by a gunman who opened hearth on a Southern California ballroom dance studio, killing 10 individuals and wounding 10 extra.

Police surrounded the van with tactical automobiles and bomb squad vans for hours earlier than entering into. An individual’s physique gave the impression to be slumped over the wheel, however authorities didn’t instantly determine the individual within the van.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna beforehand launched pictures of an Asian man who was believed to be the suspect, however he didn’t launch the person’s identify.

The manhunt got here after a gunman killed 10 individuals at a ballroom dance studio late Saturday amid Lunar New Years celebrations within the predominantly Asian American group of Monterey Park. He doubtless tried and failed to focus on a second dance corridor, authorities stated.

The van was present in Torrance, one other group residence to many Asian People, about 22 miles from that second location.

The taking pictures despatched a wave of worry by means of Asian American communities within the Los Angeles space and forged a shadow over Lunar New Yr festivities across the nation. Different cities despatched additional officers to look at over the celebrations.

Luna stated the taking pictures on the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park left 5 ladies and 5 males lifeless and wounded one other 10 individuals. Then 20 to half-hour later, a person with a gun entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in close by Alhambra.

Authorities imagine the 2 occasions are related. They provided no particulars a couple of potential motive.

The suspect entered the Alhambra membership with a gun, and other people wrested the weapon away from him earlier than he fled, Luna stated.

Hours earlier, Luna stated authorities have been on the lookout for a white van after witnesses reported seeing the suspect flee from Alhambra in such a automobile.

“We imagine there’s a individual within that automobile. We don’t know their situation, however we’re going to deal with that in most secure method that we probably can and attempt to determine that individual. Might or not it’s our suspect? Presumably,” Luna stated.

In response to a query, Luna stated it was potential that the individual barricaded in van was lifeless.

Members of a SWAT workforce entered the van a short while later and seemed by means of its contents earlier than strolling away. It was unclear what they discovered.

Authorities stated Sunday they know the suspect’s identify however declined to launch it as a result of it may complicate their potential to apprehend him. However they did launch a photograph exhibiting an Asian man sporting glasses and a winter hat.

The sheriff declined to say what kind of gun was recovered in Alhambra. He stated investigators imagine the gun utilized in Monterey Park was not an assault rifle.

The bloodbath was the nation’s fifth mass killing this month. It was additionally the deadliest assault since Might 24, when 21 individuals have been killed in an elementary college in Uvalde, Texas.

Monterey Park is a metropolis of about 60,000 individuals on the jap fringe of Los Angeles and consists principally of Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian People. The taking pictures occurred within the coronary heart of its downtown the place crimson lanterns embellished the streets for the Lunar New Yr festivities. A police automotive was parked close to a big banner that proclaimed “Joyful Yr of the Rabbit!”

The celebration in Monterey Park is certainly one of California’s largest. Two days of festivities, which have been attended by as many as 100,000 individuals in previous years, have been deliberate. However officers canceled Sunday’s occasions following the taking pictures.

Tony Lai, 35, of Monterey Park was shocked when he got here out for his early morning stroll to study that the noises he heard within the night time have been gunshots.

“I assumed possibly it was fireworks. I assumed possibly it had one thing to do with Lunar New Yr,” he stated. “And we don’t even get lots of fireworks right here. It’s bizarre to see this. It’s actually secure right here. We’re proper in the midst of town, but it surely’s actually secure.”

Wynn Liaw, 57, who lives about two blocks from the Monterey Park studio, stated she was shocked that such against the law would occur, particularly throughout New Yr’s celebrations.

“Chinese language individuals, they think about Chinese language New Yr very, very particular” — a time when “you don’t do something that may convey unhealthy luck all the yr,” she stated.

She took an image of the exercise outdoors the studio to ship to relations and associates in China “to allow them to know the way loopy the U.S. is turning into with all these mass shootings, even within the New Yr.”

An Related Press/USA Right this moment database on mass killings within the U.S. reveals that 2022 was one of many nation’s worst years with 42 such assaults — the second-highest quantity because the creation of the tracker in 2006. The database defines a mass killing as 4 individuals killed, not together with the perpetrator.

The newest violence comes two months after 5 individuals have been killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub.

President Joe Biden and Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland have been briefed on the state of affairs, aides stated.

The taking pictures occurred at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, just a few blocks from metropolis corridor on Monterey Park’s primary thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, which is dotted with strip malls of small companies whose indicators are in each English and Chinese language. Cantonese and Mandarin are each extensively spoken, Chinese language holidays are celebrated and Chinese language movies are screened recurrently within the metropolis.

The enterprise provided dance classes from tango to rumba to the fox trot, and rented its area for occasions. On Saturday, its web site stated, it was internet hosting an occasion known as “Star Evening” from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Related Press author Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.