By Jonathan Allen
(Reuters) -A person fatally shot 10 individuals and injured at the very least 10 others at a ballroom dance venue throughout a Chinese language Lunar New Yr celebration late on Saturday close to Los Angeles earlier than fleeing the scene, police stated.
The shooter, who was nonetheless at giant almost 11 hours after the assault within the metropolis of Monterey Park, was believed to be an Asian man between 30 and 50 years previous primarily based on descriptions from eyewitnesses, regulation enforcement officers stated.
“We have to get this individual off the road as quickly as attainable,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna advised reporters at a Sunday morning information convention in Monterey Park, dwelling to one of many largest Asian American communities in america.
Earlier on Sunday morning, the sheriff’s division stated it didn’t know whether or not the assault was racially motivated. Half the victims had been male and the remainder feminine, Luna stated. Their identities haven’t been made public.
Officers had been investigating whether or not an incident at one other dance membership within the neighbouring metropolis of Alhambra about 20 minutes afterward Saturday night time was related with the bloodbath in Monterey Park. On the second membership, witnesses stated an Asian man walked in holding a gun that patrons had been in a position to seize. Nobody was shot and the person fled, Luna stated.
When police arrived on the Monterey Park membership, individuals had been “pouring out of the situation screaming,” division captain Andrew Meyer advised reporters at an earlier information briefing.
Not less than 10 individuals had been taken to native hospitals to be handled for accidents and at the very least one was in crucial situation. Police haven’t stated what sort of gun was used within the assault.
The capturing came about after 10 p.m. PST (0600 GMT on Sunday) across the location of a two-day Chinese language Lunar New Yr celebration the place many downtown streets are closed for festivities that draw hundreds of individuals from throughout Southern California. Police stated the celebrations deliberate for Sunday had been cancelled.
Monterey Park is a metropolis of about 60,000 individuals round 7 miles (11 km) from downtown Los Angeles. About two-thirds of its residents are Asian, in line with U.S. Census knowledge, and town is understood for its many Chinese language eating places and groceries.
Video taken by native information media confirmed injured individuals, a lot of them showing to be center aged, being loaded into ambulances on stretchers.
Seung Gained Choi, who owns a seafood barbecue restaurant close to the positioning of the assault, advised the Los Angeles Instances that three individuals rushed into his restaurant and advised him to lock the door as a result of a person was unloading a number of rounds of ammunition on the dance membership throughout the road.
The White Home stated President Joe Biden had been briefed on the assault and had directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to help native police.
Mass shootings are recurrent in america, and the assault in Monterey Park was the deadliest since Might 2022, when a gunman killed 19 college students and two academics at a faculty in Uvalde, Texas. The deadliest capturing in California historical past was in 1984 when a gunman killed 21 individuals at a McDonald’s (NYSE:) restaurant in San Ysidro, close to San Diego.
