A person fatally shot 10 folks and injured at the very least 10 others at a ballroom dance venue throughout a Chinese language Lunar New 12 months celebration late Saturday close to Los Angeles earlier than fleeing the scene, police say.
The shooter, who was nonetheless at giant almost 11 hours after the assault within the metropolis of Monterey Park, was believed to be an Asian man between 30 and 50 years outdated based mostly on descriptions from eyewitnesses, legislation enforcement officers stated.
Police stated they’re engaged on an up to date suspect description and anticipate to launch that sooner or later at present.
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“We have to get this individual off the road as quickly as attainable,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna instructed reporters at a Sunday morning information convention native time in Monterey Park, house to one of many largest Asian American communities in the USA.
The sheriff’s division stated it didn’t know whether or not the assault was racially motivated.
“All the things’s on the desk,” Luna stated of the continued investigation. “However, who walks right into a dance corridor and weapons down 20 folks?” the sheriff questioned.
“The outline we now have now’s of a male Asian — does that matter? I do not know,” stated Luna. “I can let you know that every little thing is on the desk,” he emphasised.
Half the victims had been male and half feminine, Luna stated. Their identities haven’t been made public.
Officers had been investigating whether or not an incident at one other dance membership within the neighboring metropolis of Alhambra about 20 minutes afterward Saturday night time was related with the bloodbath in Monterey Park.
On the second membership, witnesses stated an Asian man walked in holding a gun that patrons had been in a position to seize. Nobody was shot and the person fled, Luna stated.
When police arrived on the Monterey Park membership, folks had been “pouring out of the placement screaming,” division captain Andrew Meyer instructed reporters at an earlier information briefing.
At the very least 10 folks had been taken to native hospitals to be handled for accidents and at the very least one was in vital situation. Police haven’t stated what sort of gun was used within the assault.
The taking pictures happened after 10pm native time across the location of a two-day Chinese language Lunar New 12 months celebration the place many downtown streets are closed for festivities that draw 1000’s of individuals from throughout Southern California.
Monterey Park is a metropolis of about 60,000 folks round 11 kilometers from downtown Los Angeles. About two-thirds of its residents are Asian, in line with US Census knowledge, and the town is thought for its many Chinese language eating places and groceries.
Video taken by native information media confirmed injured folks, lots of them showing to be middle-aged, being loaded into ambulances on stretchers.
Seung Received Choi, who owns a seafood barbecue restaurant close to the positioning of the assault, instructed the Los Angeles Instances that three folks rushed into his restaurant and instructed him to lock the door as a result of a person was unloading a number of rounds of ammunition on the dance membership throughout the road.
The White Home stated President Joe Biden had been briefed on the assault and had directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to help native police.
Numerous Lunar New 12 months celebrations in LA had been canceled because of this.
Mass shootings are recurrent in the USA, and the assault in Monterey Park was the deadliest since Might 2022, when a gunman killed 19 college students and two lecturers at a faculty in Uvalde, Texas.
The deadliest taking pictures in California historical past was in 1984 when a gunman killed 21 folks at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, close to San Diego.
