Gunman kills 10 near Lunar New Year festival in California

MONTEREY PARK, California (AP):

A gunman killed 10 people at a ballroom dance studio amid Lunar New Year celebrations and then probably tried – but failed – to target a second dance hall, authorities said Sunday.

Authorities found the suspect dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a white van he used to flee after people thwarted his attempt at a second shooting.

The shooting and manhunt sent a wave of fear through Asian American communities in the Los Angeles area and cast a shadow over Lunar New Year festivities around the country. Other cities sent extra officers to watch over the celebrations.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park left five women and five men dead and wounded another 10 people. Then 20 to 30 minutes later, a man with a gun entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in nearby Alhambra.

Authorities believe the two events are connected. They offered no details about a possible motive.

The suspect in both cases was described as an Asian male. He entered the Alhambra club with a gun, and people wrested the weapon away from him before he fled, Luna said.

By midday, police in tactical vehicles and bomb-squad trucks surrounded a white van in a parking lot 22 miles (35.4 kilometres) from Alhambra in Torrance, another majority Asian community.

Hours earlier, Luna said authorities were looking for a white van after witnesses reported seeing the suspect flee from Alhambra in such a vehicle.

“We believe there is a person inside of that vehicle. We don’t know their condition, but we’re going to handle that in the safest manner that we possibly can and try and identify that person. Could it be our suspect? Possibly,” Luna said.

Authorities said Sunday they knew the suspect’s name but declined to release it because it could complicate their ability to apprehend him. But they did release a photo showing an Asian man wearing glasses and a winter hat. The image was taken from the attempted shooting in Alhambra.

The sheriff declined to say what type of gun was recovered in Alhambra. He said investigators believe the gun used in Monterey Park was not an assault rifle.

The massacre was the nation’s fifth mass killing this month. It was also the deadliest attack since May 24, 2022, when 21 people were killed in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people on the eastern edge of Los Angeles and is composed mostly of Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans.

The shooting happened in the heart of its downtown, where red lanterns decorated the streets for the Lunar New Year festivities.