CALIFORNIA Jan. 22 (U.S.): A gunman killed 10 people and injured 10 others at a Los Angeles-area ballroom after a Lunar New Year celebration, leading to a manhunt for the suspect in the fifth mass murder in the United States. Month.
Capt. Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Police Department said Sunday that the injured were taken to hospitals and were in stable to critical condition. The Associated Press reported that he said 10 people died at the scene in Monterey Park.
Meyer said people “were pouring out of the place screaming” when officers arrived around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. He said officers then entered the terminal and found victims while firefighters were treating the injured.
Meyer gave no description of the suspect or the weapon he used, or why police gave no information about the shooting for hours while the shooter remained on the run. He also said that the police are investigating another incident in the nearby city of Hamra to see if it was connected.
Meyer said it was too early in the investigation to know whether the gunman knew anyone on the dance floor or if it was a hate crime.
The celebration of the Lunar New Year attracted thousands.
Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 residents located on the eastern edge of Los Angeles. The majority of its residents are Asian immigrants or their descendants, mostly Chinese. The dance studio in downtown Monterey Park is just a few blocks from City Hall on its main street of Garvey Street, which is dotted with strip malls packed with small businesses whose signs are in both English and Chinese. Cantonese and Mandarin are widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated, and Chinese films are shown in the city.
Not only was the tragedy the fifth mass killing in the United States since the beginning of the year, but it is also the deadliest since May 24, 2022 — when 21 people were killed at a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to The Associated Press/USA Today. Database on mass killings in the US The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed in a Colorado Springs nightclub.
Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting occurred, told the Los Angeles Times that three people rushed to his work and told him to lock the door.
People told Choi that there was a shooter with a gun who had several rounds of ammunition.
Wong Wei, who lives nearby, told the Los Angeles Times that his friend was in a dance club bathroom that night when the shooting began. When she came out, he said, she saw a gunman and three dead bodies.
The friend then fled to Wei’s home around 11 p.m., he said, adding that his friends told him the shooter appeared to have fired at random from a long gun.
The celebration at Monterey Park is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in Southern California. Two days of festivities were planned but officials canceled Sunday’s events after the shooting.
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