International
Police hunt gunman who slew 10 in Lunar New Year shooting
A man fatally shot 10 people and injured at least 10 others at a ballroom dance hall near Los Angeles during a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration late on Saturday before fleeing the scene, police said.
January 23, 2023 | 12:55 AM
A man fatally shot 10 people and injured at least 10 others at a ballroom dance hall near Los Angeles during a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration late on Saturday before fleeing the scene, police said.The shooter, still at large 12 hours after the attack in the city of Monterey Park, was believed to be an Asian man between 30 and 50 years old based on descriptions from eyewitnesses, law enforcement officials said."We need to get this person off the street as soon as possible," Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters at a news conference yesterday in Monterey Park, home to one of the largest Asian American communities in the United States.In the US the term "Asian" usually refers to those of east Asian descent.Earlier, the sheriff’s department said it did not know whether the attack was racially motivated."We don’t know if this is specifically a hate crime defined by law," Luna said, "but who walks into a dance hall and guns down 20 people?"He said five of the victims were male and five were female.Their identities have not been made public.Officials were investigating whether an incident at another dance venue in the neighbouring city of Alhambra about 20 minutes later on Saturday night was connected with the massacre in Monterey Park.Alhambra is about two miles north of Monterey Park.At the second venue, witnesses said an Asian man walked in holding a gun that patrons were able to grab.No one was shot and the man fled, Luna said.When police arrived at the Monterey Park ballroom, people were "pouring out of the location screaming", department captain Andrew Meyer told reporters at a news briefing.City firefighters treated the injured before sending them to area hospitals, where Luna said their conditions ranged from stable to critical."Unfortunately," Luna said, "they did pronounce 10 of the victims deceased at the scene."Five of the dead were women and five men, officials said, without providing ages or names.Luna said he did not believe the shooter used an assault rifle, but did not elaborate.The shooting took place after 10pm PST (0600 GMT yesterday) around the location of a two-day Chinese Lunar New Year celebration where many downtown streets are closed for festivities that draw thousands of people from across Southern California.Residents stood gazing at the many blocks sealed off yesterday with police tape in Monterey Park.Chester Chong, chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, described the city of about 60,000 people as a quiet, peaceful, beautiful place where everybody knows each other and helps each other.About seven miles (11km) from downtown Los Angeles, the city has for decades been a destination for immigrants from China.Around 65% of its residents are Asian, according to US Census data, and the city is known for its many Chinese restaurants and groceries."People were calling me last night, they were scared this was a hate crime," Chong said at the scene.Police have not publicly named the dance club, but were seen going in and out of the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, access to which was blocked off by police tape.The club opened in 1990, and its website features many photographs of past Lunar New Year celebrations showing patrons smiling and dancing in party clothes in its large, brightly lit ballroom.A flyer posted on the website advertised Saturday night’s new year party, running from 7.30pm to 12.30am.The gunshots were mistaken by some for new year fireworks, according to Tiffany Chiu, 30, who was celebrating at her parents’ home near the ballroom."Many older people live here, it’s usually really quiet," she said. "This is not something you expect here.""It’s a really sad thing," Ken Nim, out walking his dog, told AFP. "Usually you don’t see much happening here."Seung Won Choi, who owns a seafood barbecue restaurant near the site of the attack, told the Los Angeles Times that three people rushed into his restaurant and told him to lock the door because a man was unloading multiple rounds of ammunition at the dance club across the street.Video taken by local news media showed injured people, many of them appearing to be middle aged, being loaded into ambulances on stretchers.The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the attack and had directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assist local police.Mass shootings are recurrent in the United States, and the attack in Monterey Park was the deadliest since May last year, when a gunman shot and killed 19 students and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas.The deadliest shooting in California history was in 1984 when a gunman killed 21 people at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, near San Diego.
January 23, 2023 | 12:55 AM