California shooter kills ten at dance club on Lunar New Year

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

A gunman in California shot dead 10 people in the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, during Lunar New Year celebrations on Saturday.

While the motives of the shooting suspect, who ultimately committed suicide, are unclear, Monterey Park is home to a very large Asian community.

Nearby the dance club on the outskirts of Los Angeles, small businesses are adorned with signs in both English and Chinese, and many locals speak Cantonese and Mandarin.

According to the Associated Press, the suspect was found dead on Sunday, apparently having died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a van. Authorities say he fled in the van after people thwarted his attempt to perpetrate a second shooting at the Lai Lai Ballroom in the nearby city of Alhambra on Saturday night.

Shooting details

Los Angeles County Sheriff, Robert Luna, identified the man as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, and said no other suspects were at large.

The sheriff said the motive remained unclear for the attack.

Speaking at a Sunday evening news conference, Sheriff Luna said he did not have the exact ages of the victims, but added that all those killed appeared to be over age 50.

The weapon, he said, was a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, noting a second handgun was discovered in the van where Tran died.

While the Lunar New Year celebrations in Monterey Park were to be one of California’s largest, with two days of festivities planned and some 100,000 people set to attend, officials cancelled Sunday’s events following the shooting.

Fifth mass killing this month

This dance club massacre was the fifth mass killing this month in the United States.

The shooting in California also marks the country's deadliest attack since 24 May 2022, when 21 were killed in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, visited Monterey Park on Sunday, meeting with victims, their families, and local officials.

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden said they were thinking of those killed and wounded.