People pay their respects to the victims of the shooting that took place at a dance hall in Monterey Park on Saturday night during Chinese New Year celebrations, Monday, January 23, 2023. JAE C. HONG / AP
Two days after the killings, which took place during Chinese New Year celebrations near Los Angeles, USA, there are still many unanswered questions. On Monday, January 23, Americans are still wondering about the motives that led a 70-year-old man of Asian descent to kill 11 people in a dance hall in Monterey Park, southern California, Saturday night before attempting his carnage in to another dance hall whose customers also celebrated the Chinese New Year.
Initially raised to the death toll of 10, the death toll has been revised to 11 people, the LAC + USC Medical Center in Los Angeles said on Monday. “We are sad to announce that one of the victims has succumbed to his injuries,” said the hospital, which treated four of the 10 injured in the massacre, in a press release sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
US President Joe Biden expressed his outrage on Sunday evening and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast until the evening of January 26, “as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence committed on January 21, 2023 in Monterey Park became . , California,” the White House said in a statement.
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First victim identified
After an extensive manhunt that police say ended in the shooter’s suicide, Los Angeles County investigators were still working to uncover the details behind the Monterey Park massacre.
In this city of 60,000, many could not believe such an act could have taken place in this predominantly Asian Los Angeles suburb known for its tranquility and celebrating the Lunar New Year on Saturday night.
“All leads are being reviewed,” Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday. In particular, investigators have not yet determined why the victims, most of them in their 60s and 70s, were targeted.
Among the victims, identified by a Los Angeles County official, was Mymy Nhan, a 65-year-old woman who was the first person to be killed at the dance hall, according to a statement to AFP. “We enter the Lunar New Year heartbroken. We never thought she could die so suddenly,” her family said in a statement posted to social media.
The 72-year-old Asian suspect was identified as Huu Can Tran after his death Sunday in Torrance, about 45 kilometers from Monterey Park. According to the media, Mr. Tran was a former regular at the dance hall, where he even met his ex-wife.
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His white van was blocked by armored police vehicles and his body was later found showing signs of a shot fired from inside the vehicle. The weapon found after he killed himself in his vehicle was not an assault rifle, according to Sheriff Luna, but “a semi-automatic assault pistol (…) equipped with a high-capacity magazine.
A young man prevented a second bloodbath
After killing 11 people and injuring 10 others in Monterey Park, the shooter went to another nearby dance venue Saturday night with the aim of killing more victims. However, he was prevented from doing so after being disarmed by a young man who was dubbed a “hero” by American media on Monday.
Brandon Tsay, a 26-year-old employee of Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio in the city of Alhambra, was at the entrance of the venue, which is frequented primarily by Asian customers, when the gunman entered and pointed a gun at him. “My heart stopped, I knew I was going to die,” he told the New York Times, adding, “At that moment, survival instincts took over.”
The young man said he lunged at the man and grabbed the barrel of the gun in what he described as “the fight of his life”. In CCTV footage released by ABC on Monday, Brandon Tsay can be seen wrestling with the beanie-wearing gunman, the weapon indistinguishable in close quarters combat. Eventually he managed to grab it, after which the suspect fled.
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The shooting is the deadliest in the United States since a gunman killed 21 at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022.
The United States pays a very high price for the proliferation of firearms on its territory and easy access by Americans to them. Around 49,000 people died from gunfire in the country in 2021, compared to 45,000 in 2020, which was already an unprecedented year in this area. This equates to more than 130 deaths a day, more than half of which are suicides.