The suspect in a ballroom dance club shooting near Los Angeles that left 10 dead has shot and killed himself, the Associated Press reported.
(Bloomberg) — The suspect in a ballroom dance club shooting near Los Angeles that left 10 dead has shot and killed himself, the Associated Press reported.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna identified the suspect as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, according to the AP. He killed himself in a van he had used to flee as police officers closed in after an attempted second shooting, Luna said.
The attack at the dance club in Monterey Park, a city east of Los Angeles, took place after a popular Lunar New Year celebration.
Ten people died at the scene — five women and five men, Luna said. Another 10 people who were wounded, and whose condition ranges from stable to critical, have been to taken to multiple hospitals in the vicinity.
The sheriff added that the suspect was carrying what he described as a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, AP reported, and a second handgun was discovered in the van where Tran was found dead.
Monterey Park, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, has a population of around 60,000 people — roughly 65% of whom are Asian, according to Census data. Saturday’s Lunar New Year celebration had drawn a large crowd. Videos posted on social media showed people being loaded onto stretchers and placed into ambulances.
“Even though the incident did not occur at the 2023 Lunar New Year Festival, an active investigation is currently underway and the area near and around the festival is affected,” a statement on Monterey Park’s government website said earlier. “As a precaution and for the safety of everyone, the City regrets to announce the cancellation of the second day of the festival.”
While it’s unclear as of yet what the motives were for Saturday’s shooting, anti-Asian hate crimes have been on the rise in the US.
“Everything is on the table,” Luna said. “We don’t know if this is a hate crime as described by law.”
–With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Alyssa McDonald.
(Adds details about suspect. An earlier version corrected spelling of suspect’s name)
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