Lunar New Year Shooting Update: 10 Dead, Suspect's Photo Revealed

At least ten people were murdered, and several more were injured in a California mass shooting late Saturday at a ballroom dance club in Monterey Park, where people were gathering to celebrate the Lunar New Year, according to authorities, Fox News reported.

Capt. Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau announced Sunday morning that ten people had been pronounced dead at the scene, and another ten had been transported to nearby hospitals in stable to critical condition.

When police arrived at the dance hall at 10:30 p.m., Meyer said, people were "pouring out of the location screaming," and officers entered the club while firefighters attended to the injured.

Lunar New Year Shooting Suspect Killed Himself

The police had cornered the suspect in a white vehicle, and the guy presumably shot himself inside the van.

Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna had indicated that authorities were dealing with a "barricaded suspect issue" in the Torrance area Sunday morning.

According to Luna, the Lunar New Year shooting that occurred late Saturday night at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park resulted in the deaths of five men and five women and the injuries of ten others.

Approximately 20-30 minutes later, a lone gunman entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in adjacent Alhambra.

According to the law enforcement officer, the firearm taken from the man in Alhambra was a Cobray M11 9mm semiautomatic SMG, which is designed with 30-round magazines that allows rapid shooting without frequent magazine changes, CNN noted.

Luna said Sunday afternoon that police had cornered a vehicle with a person inside who "probably" was the suspect but that authorities did not know the status of the individual inside.

"We believe there is a person inside of that vehicle. We don't know their condition, but we're going to handle that in the safest manner possible and try to identify that person. Could it be our suspect? Possibly," Luna said.

News helicopters flew overhead and caught the tense scene involving the automobile, per CBS News.

Luna stated they were still looking into the van's connection to the suspect and the crime.

Observations from a helicopter above the van at a Torrance parking lot in west Los Angeles revealed two armored vehicles in front of and behind it, with cops in fatigues and body armor in the back of one of the police vehicles.

Suspect's Motive at the California Mass Shooting Still Unclear

Meyer told reporters that the incident's motive was unclear.

Luna said that the initial description of the suspect was an Asian male between the ages of 30 and 50.

Luna told reports that they are still investigating if the California mass shooting is a hate crime, stating that "everything is on the table."

"We don't know if this is specifically a hate crime defined by law, but who walks into a dance hall and guns down 20 people?" Luna said.

Monterey Park, California's population of 60,000, is around two-thirds Asian American, and their Lunar New Year Festival drew tens of thousands of people.

It is approximately 11 km (7 miles) east of the Los Angeles downtown area, said NBC News.

Alhambra, next to Monterey Park, has a population of over 50% Asian American.

The two-day event features "food booths with various types of delectable items, amusement rides, and lots of live entertainment."

According to the city's website, previous events have attracted over 100,000 guests from all around Southern California daily.

Meyer stated that police would look at every angle to determine whether the Lunar New Year shooting was a hate crime but that it was too early to determine whether the attack was motivated by racism.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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