The suspect in a shooting in Monterey Park, California, that left 10 people dead and 10 others injured has died, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday. The suspect, identified as Huu Can Tran, 72, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Luna said.
Luna said earlier Sunday that police were dealing with a “disorganized situation” in the city of Torrance. Police arrived in a white van at 10:20 a.m. local time Sunday, Luna said. The car then pulled into a parking lot and police heard a single gunshot inside the car, according to Luna. The police, who were seen in full body armor, arrived at the vehicle at 12:52 pm and found the man dead.
A handgun was found inside the van, Luna said.
Police say there are no suspects and they don’t know why.
Luna said five men and five women were killed and 10 others were injured in a shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park Saturday night. Then, 20 to 30 minutes later, the suspect entered the Lai Lai lounge near the Alhambra.
Just before 10 a.m. Saturday, police arrived at the scene in response to a shooting and found 10 people injured outside Star Dance Studio. The 10 injured were taken to local hospitals, where seven of them remained as of Sunday night, Luna said. All of the victims appear to be in their 50s, Luna said Sunday night.
Luna said a firearm that had a magazine with an enlarged magazine was found in Alhambra. He said he believes this type of weapon is not legal in California, but that more “research” is needed.
“He went in there with a gun and other people struggled with the gun, and the man took off,” Luna said earlier Sunday.
A dramatic scene involving the white van was captured by news helicopters, as several armored vehicles were parked in front, on the sides, and behind the van, with fatigued and armed police in the back of one of the police vans.
Damian Dovarganes / AP
Luna said on Sunday afternoon that a victim’s center had been set up and urged anyone to go who suspects a family member was at the dance hall.
Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people located east of Los Angeles. Most of the residents are of Asian origin or their descendants, most of them Chinese. The dance studio in downtown Monterey Park is just a few blocks from city hall on Garvey Avenue, which is lined with shops and small businesses whose signs are in English and Chinese. Both Cantonese and Mandarin are widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated, and Chinese movies are shown in the city.
Jae C. Hong / AP
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are on the scene assisting local police, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden had been updated on the shooting.
“Jill and I are thinking of those who were killed and injured in last night’s deadly shooting at Monterey Par,” Mr. Biden said Sunday night. “While there is still much we don’t know about this senseless attack, we know many families are grieving tonight, or praying for their loved one to recover from their injuries.”
Mr. Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Thursday.
Resident Wong Wei told the Los Angeles Times that his friend was at the dance floor and was in the bathroom when the shooting started. When he got out of the bathroom, he saw a gunman and three bodies – two women and one man who he said was the head of the studio.
The friend fled to his home around 11 p.m., Wei said, adding that his friends told him the gunman appeared to be shooting indiscriminately with a long gun. “They don’t know why, so they run,” he told the newspaper.
Peter Fong, a friend of “Mr. Ma,” one of the instructors at the dance studio, told CBS News that “Mr. Ma” was one of the people killed in the shooting. None of the victims were identified as of Sunday night.
The adults were too search the second event that took place shortly after Monterey Park is shooting at a distance of two kilometers in the city of Alhambra to see if the two are compatible.
Initial reports indicate that investigators were searching the Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio in Alhambra in the early hours of Sunday morning, when an armed suspect – possibly similar to the description of the Monterey Park gunman – entered before being disarmed and fleeing. According to CBS Los Angeles, authorities want to know if the accused left the scene of the shooting in Monterey Park and went to the Alhambra studio. No one was injured in the second attack, officials said.
Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that investigators are examining the weapons found at the scene in Alhambra to try to determine if the weapon is connected to the Monterey Park shooting and if the man was the same suspect. The weapon found in Alhambra was not an assault weapon, police said.
One neighbor of the Monterey Park studio he told CBS Los Angeles the sound of gunfire sounded like fire, but because of the festivities going on in the area, he didn’t think much of it at the time.
A festival in Monterey Park has been canceled for Sunday, officials said.
Videos posted on social media showed people being lifted on stretchers and placed in ambulances. Other images show bloodied and bandaged people being helped by Monterey Park firefighters in a parking lot.
Pat Milton contributed reporting.
