California investigators are searching for a motive for the gunman who killed 10 people at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club during Lunar New Year celebrations, slayings that sent a wave of fear through Asian American communities and cast a shadow over festivities nationwide.
The suspect, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday in the van that authorities say he used to flee after being prevented from attacking another dance hall.
The massacre struck one of California's largest celebrations of a holiday observed in many Asian cultures, dealing another blow to a community that has been the target of high-profile violence in recent years.
The attack at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park was the deadliest in the U.S. since May 24, 2022, when 21 people were killed in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Authorities said Saturday's assault could have been even deadlier. A man whose family runs the Lai Lai Ballroom in the nearby city of Alhambra confronted the assailant in the lobby about 20 minutes after the Monterey Park violence and wrested the gun from him, The New York Times reported.
That man, Brandon Tsay, told ABC's Good Morning America that he thought he was going to die.
"Something came over me. I realized I needed to get the weapon away from him, I needed to take this weapon, disarm him or else everybody would have died," Tsay said. "When I got the courage, I lunged at him with both my hands, grabbed the weapon and we had a struggle."
Once Tsay seized the gun, he pointed it at the man and shouted: "Get the hell out of here, I'll shoot, get away, go!"
The assailant paused, but then headed back to his van, and Tsay called the police, the gun still in his hand.
Tsay, who works a few days a week at the dance hall his grandparents started, told The New York Times that he acted alone. Stills from security footage shown on Good Morning America showed only the two men struggling for the gun.
Heartbreak for Asian American community
Authorities have shared very little about Tran.
Monterey Park Mayor Henry Lo and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna stressed that the motive remained unclear for the attack, which also left 10 people wounded. Luna said all of the people killed appeared to be over 50. No other suspects were at large, according to the sheriff.
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.
"We haven't had a celebration like this in three years, so this was momentous. People came out in droves," said Mayor Pro Tem Jose Sanchez.
Tony Lai, 35, of Monterey Park was stunned when he came out for his early morning walk to learn that the noises he heard in the night were gunshots.
"I thought maybe it was fireworks. I thought maybe it had something to do with Lunar New Year," he said. "And we don't even get a lot of fireworks here. It's weird to see this. It's really safe here."
WATCH | Suspect reportedly frequented Lai Lai Ballroom previously:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited Monterey Park on Sunday, meeting with victims and their families as well as local officials. The massacre sent shock waves through Asian American communities around the nation, prompting police from San Francisco to New York to step up patrols at Lunar New Year celebrations in their own cities.
But Asian American advocacy groups said it was another blow after years of high-profile anti-Asian violence around the country.
"Having this tragedy on one of our most important holidays … it feels very personal to our community," said Connie Chung Joe, CEO of the non-profit Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California.
The suspect was carrying what Luna described as a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and a second handgun was discovered in the van where Tran died.
Law enforcement officials tracked the suspect's van in Torrance and eventually entered it. A person's body appeared to be slumped over the wheel and was later removed.
