MONTEREY PARK, Calif., Jan 24 (Reuters) – Two days after a gunman killed 11 people at a Los Angeles dance floor, seven more people were killed at a farm near San Francisco, as California suffered one of its worst deaths. . the highest number of gun violence deaths in decades.
Officials said they did not know the cause of the rampage, which appeared puzzling in part because the suspects were men of retirement age, older than the mass shootings that have become the norm in the United States. Countries.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was visiting the victims of the shooting on Saturday night in the Los Angeles area of Monterey Park when he was informed of Monday’s massacre in northern California.
“Tragedy after tragedy,” Newsom wrote on Twitter.
Otherwise, the back-to-back shots didn’t seem quite the same.
The latest shooting spree hit the coastal town of Half Moon Bay, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, where a gunman opened fire on groups of farm workers two miles apart. of one kilometer, leaving seven people dead and one badly. he was wounded, then he ran away.
The accused shooter, identified as Chunli Zhao, 67, was arrested shortly after he was found sitting in his car, which was parked outside the sheriff’s court, where authorities said they believed he had turned himself in.
An automatic rifle was found in his car, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus told a press conference that evening.
Corpus said the suspect, who is “fully cooperating” with investigators after his arrest, worked on one of the two incidents. He also explained that the place was a “nursery,” where some of the workers also lived. Local media reported that one location was a mushroom farm.
In a Bay Area Monday evening that didn’t slow down much, one person was killed and seven were injured in a “multiple shooting” in Oakland, police said, pointing to the possibility of gang violence. Police did not release further details, but said all of the survivors were taken to local hospitals.
The news of the murders in Half Moon Bay came as police worked on the second full day of their investigation into the shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, east of Los Angeles, where a gunman shot 11 people to death. 9 other people were injured.
Authorities said the suspect, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, drove a car near a nearby town and entered a second dance hall but was confronted by the band’s driver, who wrestled the weapon in a brief scuffle.
Tran, the former manager of the Star Ballroom, a favorite of old-time dancers, also ran away and disappeared overnight.
[1/5] People gather to light candles after a mass shooting during a Chinese New Year celebration in Monterey Park, California, U.S. January 23, 2023. REUTERS/David Swanson
He shot himself in a parked pickup truck Sunday morning, about 12 hours after the blast, as police surrounded him in the town of Torrance, south of Los Angeles, authorities said.
ALL THE THINGS
Saturday’s violence took place during a Chinese New Year celebration in Monterey Park, the center of the Asian-American community in southern California, sparking concerns that the attack could be racist. The second day of the event was cancelled.
It was the deadliest in Los Angeles County, according to Hilda Solis, a member of the Board of Supervisors.
By comparison, the 1984 massacre of 21 people at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Diego appears to be the greatest loss of life for a single mass shooting in California.
Fourteen people were killed in San Bernardino, east LA County, in 2015 by a family the government described as extremists led by foreign terrorists. They were killed a few hours later in a shootout with the police.
Two recent shootings were also notable for the ages of the suspects, one in his 60s, the other in his 70s.
A database of 185 shootings between 1966 and 2022 maintained by the nonprofit Violence Project includes only one by a person 70 or older — a retiree who killed five people in Kentucky in 1981.
While investigating a fire at a Monterey Park ballpark, investigators recovered 42 bullets and a magazine of high-powered weapons from the scene, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters Monday.
He said a search of the suspect’s home in the upscale area of Hemet, 80 miles east of Los Angeles, turned up guns, electronic devices and items “that lead us to believe the suspect was making jewelry” to prevent weapons. Police also seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the house and a handgun from the suspect’s car.
Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said investigators are looking into unconfirmed reports that the violence may have been motivated by jealousy or a relationship.
Adam Hood, who rented an apartment from Tran in the Los Angeles area, told Reuters that the landlord enjoyed ballroom dancing and was a regular at the Star Ballroom, although he complained that others talked behind his back.
“He didn’t trust the people at the studio, angry and distrustful. I think he had enough,” said Hood.
Reports by Tim Reid in Monterey Park and Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, Calif.; Additional writing and reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Rich McKay, Gabriella Borter, Brendan O’Brien, Brad Brooks, Jonathan Allen, Joseph Ax, Dan Whitcomb and Timothy Gardner; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore
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