International

Los Angeles Shooting Suspect Killed Himself After Shooting Dead 10 People: Police

A gunman killed 10 at a ballroom dance studio amid Lunar New Year celebrations in Los Angeles. He then went to a second place for a second shooting but was prevented as people wrestled with him and drove him away.

US law enforcement personnel (Representative image)
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The suspect in Los Angeles shooting in which 10 people were shot dead has killed himself, according to police.  

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna identified the suspect as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran. He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

On Sunday, a gunman killed 10 people at a ballroom dance studio amid Lunar New Year celebrations in Los Angeles. The gunman then went to a second place in Alhambra for a second shooting but was prevented as people wrestled with him and drove him away. 

Luna confirmed that no other shooting suspect was at large. 

The deceased include five dead and five wounded. Ten were wounded, seven of whom are in the hospital.  

Luna earlier released the photo of the suspect, who was identified as an Asian man. The Lunal New Year festival is observed by Chinese and Asian people across the world. 

What we know of Los Angeles shooting

The Los Angeles shooting suspect Huu Can Tran, 72, was found dead in a van from a self-inflicted wound. 

Earlier on Sunday, law enforcement officials swarmed and entered the van after surrounding it for for hours before going in. A person's body appeared to be slumped over the wheel and was later removed from the vehicle.

The van was found in Torrance, another community home to many Asian Americans, about 22 miles (34.5 kilometers) from that second location.

The shooting sent a wave of fear through Asian American communities in the Los Angeles area and cast a shadow over Lunar New Year festivities around the country. Other cities sent extra officers to watch over the celebrations.

The massacre was the nation's fifth mass killing this month. It was also the deadliest attack since May 24, when 21 people were killed in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people on the eastern edge of Los Angeles and is composed mostly of Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans. The shooting happened in the heart of its downtown where red lanterns decorated the streets for the Lunar New Year festivities. 

An Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the United States shows that 2022 was one of the nation's worst years with 42 such attacks — the second-highest number since the creation of the tracker in 2006. 

The database defines a mass killing as four people killed, not including the perpetrator.

The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub.

Reactions to the Los Angeles shooting

Congresswoman Judy Chu of Los Angeles said, "I still have questions in my mind, which is: What was the motive for this shooter? Did he have a mental illness? Was he a domestic violence abuser? How did he gets these guns and was it through legal means or not? The community was in fear thinking that they should not go to any events because there was an active shooter....Feel safe. You are no longer in danger.”

President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the situation, aides said. 

Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were thinking of those killed and wounded, and he directed federal authorities to support the investigation.

The shooting occurred at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, a few blocks from city hall on Monterey Park's main thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, which is dotted with strip malls of small businesses whose signs are in both English and Chinese. 

Cantonese and Mandarin are both widely spoken, Chinese holidays are celebrated and Chinese films are screened regularly in the city.

The business offered dance lessons from tango to rumba to the fox trot, and rented its space for events. 

On Saturday, its website said, it was hosting an event called “Star Night” from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. 

(With AP inputs)