By Tim Reid and Jonathan Allen
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (Reuters) -A person fatally shot 10 folks and injured at the least 10 others at a ballroom dance corridor throughout a Chinese language Lunar New Yr celebration late on Saturday close to Los Angeles earlier than fleeing the scene, police stated.
The shooter, nonetheless at giant 12 hours after the assault within the metropolis of Monterey Park, was believed to be an Asian man between 30 and 50 years previous based mostly on descriptions from eyewitnesses, regulation enforcement officers stated.
“We have to get this individual off the road as quickly as doable,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna advised reporters at a Sunday morning information convention in Monterey Park, residence to one of many largest Asian American communities in the USA.
Luna later launched photos of the suspect apparently taken from surveillance digicam footage displaying him sporting spectacles, wearing a darkish jacket and a darkish beanie hat with white stripes. The sheriff’s division stated he was nonetheless unidentified however ought to be thought-about “armed and harmful.”
Earlier on Sunday morning, the sheriff’s division stated it didn’t know whether or not the assault was racially motivated. 5 of the victims had been male and 5 had been feminine, Luna stated. Their identities haven’t been made public.
Officers had been investigating whether or not an incident at one other dance venue within the neighbouring metropolis of Alhambra about 20 minutes in a while Saturday evening was linked with the bloodbath in Monterey Park. On the second venue, witnesses stated an Asian man walked in holding a gun that patrons had been capable of seize. Nobody was shot and the person fled, Luna stated.
When police arrived on the Monterey Park ballroom, folks had been “pouring out of the placement screaming,” division captain Andrew Meyer advised reporters at a information briefing.
No less than 10 folks had been taken to native hospitals to be handled for accidents and at the least one was in essential situation. Police haven’t stated what sort of gun was used within the assault.
The capturing happened after 10 p.m. PST (0600 GMT on Sunday) across the location of a two-day Chinese language Lunar New Yr celebration the place many downtown streets are closed for festivities that draw hundreds of individuals from throughout Southern California. Police stated the celebrations deliberate for Sunday had been cancelled.
A CLOSE-KNIT COMMUNITY
Residents stood gazing on the many blocks sealed off with police tape on Sunday in Monterey Park. Chester Chong, chairman of the Chinese language Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, described town of about 60,000 folks as a quiet, peaceable, stunning place the place everyone is aware of one another and helps one another.
About 7 miles (11 km) from downtown Los Angeles, town has for many years been a vacation spot for immigrants from China. Round 65% of its residents are Asian, in accordance with U.S. Census knowledge, and town is thought for its many Chinese language eating places and groceries.
“Folks had been calling me final evening, they had been scared this was a hate crime,” Chong stated on the scene.
Police haven’t publicly named the dance membership, however had been seen going out and in of the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, entry to which was blocked off by police tape. The membership opened in 1990, and its web site options many images of previous Lunar New Yr celebrations displaying patrons smiling and dancing in occasion garments in its giant, brightly lit ballroom.
Most of its patrons are middle-aged or aged, although youngsters additionally attend youth dance courses, in accordance with a trainer on the studio who requested to not be named.
“These are regular working folks,” the trainer stated. “Some are retired and simply searching for an train or social interplay.”
A flyer posted on the web site marketed Saturday evening’s new 12 months occasion, working from 7:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
The gunshots had been mistaken by some for brand new 12 months fireworks, in accordance with Tiffany Chiu, 30, who was celebrating at her dad and mom’ residence close to the ballroom.
“Quite a lot of older folks reside right here, it’s often actually quiet,” she stated. “This isn’t one thing you anticipate right here.”
Video taken by native information media confirmed injured folks, lots of them showing to be center aged, being loaded into ambulances on stretchers.
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.
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 college in Uvalde, Texas. The deadliest capturing in California historical past was in 1984 when a gunman killed 21 folks at a McDonald’s (NYSE:) restaurant in San Ysidro, close to San Diego.
