Lunar New Year is supposed to be a time of joy and celebration—but the predominantly Asian American community of Monterey Park, California, is heading into the New Year grieving a mass shooting. A gunman killed 11 people and wounded several others at the Star Ballroom dance studio on Saturday night. The shooter fled, and an hours-long manhunt ended in a strip mall parking lot about 30 miles away on Sunday, where police say he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
A lot of new details about the shooting have emerged over the past day or so. Here’s a rundown of what we know.
* An 11th person died from their injuries at the hospital on Monday. Mourners are expected to gather Monday night at Monterey Park City Hall to remember those killed in the shooting.
* The shooter targeted a second location, but civilians stopped him. After leaving the Star Ballroom on Saturday night, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran drove to another nearby ballroom dance studio, and entered brandishing a gun. But a heroic 26-year-old employee, Brandon Tsay, was able to wrestle the weapon away from him.
* The gunman used what was likely an illegal weapon. Tran used a 9-millimeter Cobray M11, which also had an extended magazine and is currently illegal to buy in the state of California (though it may have been legal for him to possess if he bought it a long time ago).
* Tran was older than most mass shooters. People who carry out mass shootings tend to be younger—the average age of a shooter is 34 years old. (While the definition of a mass shooting is contested, most organizations tracking them count shootings where at least three or four people are killed).
* The victims were in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Authorities also named two of the victims Monday: My Nhan, 65, and Lilan Li, 63.
* The shooter appears to have known some of the victims. Tran appeared to have targeted two dance studios he personally frequented. His ex-wife, who asked to remain nameless, told CNN that she first met Tran at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, and that he gave informal lessons there.
*The gunman used to live in the community. Tran was living in a mobile home in a senior community in Hemet, California, about an hour’s drive from the scene of the crime in Monterey Park, according to CNN. He previously owned a home in San Gabriel, a town next to Monterey Park, and sold it back in 2013.
* Police are investigating jealousy or a personal dispute as possible motives. Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that the investigation is focusing on Tran’s past relationships with the people at the dance studios. Tran also visited the police department in Hemet earlier this month and accused his family members in the Los Angeles area of fraud, theft and poisoning decades ago, police said in a statement. Tran never provided any evidence nor returned to the station.
* Whatever the motive, the violence caused fear and anxiety in the community, at a time when anti-AAPI attacks have been on the rise. The Department of Justice recorded a 77 percent increase in reported anti-Asian incidents from 2019 to 2020 nationally, while the state of California reported a 177 percent increase in anti-Asian bias events in 2021.
