January 22, 2023 Monterey Park mass shooting news

Our live coverage of the Monterey Park mass shooting has moved here.

A 72-year-old man found dead after a standoff with police has been confirmed as the person suspected of carrying out a deadly mass shooting in Monterey Park, California on Saturday night, according to police.

He is suspected of opening fire at a dance studio, killing 10 people and injuring 10 more as the city’s large Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year weekend.

Here's what we know:

• The attack: The shooting happened at 10:22 p.m. local time (1:22 a.m. ET) at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio near a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park. Five men and five women were killed, and at least 10 others were injured. Seven of the wounded remain hospitalized.
• The suspect: Huu Can Tran, 72, was identified as the suspect by Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. Tran was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday afternoon inside a cargo van after a standoff with police in Torrance, California. He had once been a regular presence at the dance studio, even meeting his ex-wife there, three people who knew him told CNN. It is unclear how frequently Tran visited the dance hall, if at all, in recent years.
• Second incident: Tran is also believed to be the gunman disarmed by a group of people at a dance studio in Alhambra, California, shortly after the mass shooting in nearby Monterey Park. Evidence found in the cargo van linked Tran to both the Alhambra and Monterey Park scenes, according to Luna, who said there are "no outstanding suspects."
• The investigation: Police and investigators are now working to determine the motive behind the mass shooting, according to Luna, who promised detectives would look at "every possibility."
• Community grieves: The massacre's impact has already been deeply felt among one of the largest Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the US. Members of the Monterey Park community gathered for a vigil Sunday to honor the victims.
• National mourning: President Joe Biden offered his condolences to the victims following the mass shooting and ordered flags to fly at half-staff at the White House and other federal buildings.
• Gun violence: As of Sunday night, there have now been at least 36 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the nonprofit organization Gun Violence Archive. CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.

Members of the Monterey Park community gathered for a vigil Sunday to honor the victims of the mass shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio.

The California city is in shock after a gunman killed 10 people and injured 10 more as the city’s large Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year.

Authorities say a 72-year-old man suspected of the mass shooting was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound after officers approached his vehicle.

It is only the 22nd day of the year and there have already been at least 36 mass shootings in the United States so far, according to the nonprofit organization Gun Violence Archive.

This means there have been more mass shootings this year than there have been days in 2023.

CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.

The man who fatally shot 10 people in a Southern California dance studio had once been a regular presence at the studio, even meeting his ex-wife there, three people who knew him told CNN.

Police say Huu Can Tran, 72, opened fire at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park, on Saturday night, before fatally shooting himself after a manhunt across the region on Sunday.

His ex-wife said in an interview that she had met Tran about two decades ago at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, a popular community gathering place where he gave informal lessons. Tran saw her at a dance, introduced himself, and offered her free lessons, she said.

The two married soon after they met, according to the ex-wife, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the case. While Tran was never violent to her, she said he could be quick to anger. For example, she said, if she missed a step dancing he would become upset because he felt it made him look bad. She said that after several years together, she got the impression that he had lost interest in her. Her sister, who also asked not to be named, confirmed her account. 

It was unclear how frequently Tran visited the dance hall, if at all, in recent years.

Tran filed for divorce in late 2005, and a judge approved the divorce the following year, Los Angeles court records show. 

Tran was an immigrant from China, according to a copy of his marriage license that his ex-wife showed to CNN.

A 5-minute drive from his home: Another long-time acquaintance of Tran’s also remembered him as a frequent presence at the dance studio. The friend, who also asked not to be named, was close to Tran in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, when he said Tran would make the roughly 5-minute drive from his home in San Gabriel to Star Ballroom Dance Studio “almost every night.”

Tran often complained at the time that the instructors at the dance hall didn’t like him and said “evil things about him,” the friend remembered, adding that Tran was “hostile to a lot of people there.”

More generally, Tran was easily irritated, complained a lot, and didn’t seem to trust people, the friend said.

 Tran at times worked as a truck driver, according to his ex-wife. 

Business records show that Tran registered a business called Tran’s Trucking Inc. in California in 2002. But he dissolved the business about two years later, writing in a corporate filing that the company had never acquired any known assets or incurred any known debts or liabilities.

Bought a mobile home in Hemet: In 2013, Tran sold his San Gabriel home, which he had owned for more than two decades, property records show. 

Seven years later, records show, Tran bought a mobile home in a senior citizens community in Hemet, California, an outlying suburb about 85 miles east of Los Angeles. 

Tran’s friend said he hadn’t seen Tran in several years and was “totally shocked” when he heard about the shooting. 

“I know lots of people, and if they go to Star Studio, they frequent there,” the friend said, adding that he was “worried maybe I know some of” the shooting victims.

Authorities are working to identify the victims of the shooting in Monterey Park, California, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

"Please keep in mind that especially with the deceased victims, the coroner's office retrieved the remains not that long ago. So, they're still in the process of identifying,” Luna told reporters Sunday. “There's a lot of work that still needs to be done to answer a lot of questions that all of us have."

Luna said that because the victims haven’t all been identified, he couldn’t say their exact ages, but gave a range.

“I don't have the specific ages because they have not been identified. But they're not in their 20s or 30s. They seem to be probably, I would say, in their 50s, 60s, and maybe some even beyond that,” Luna said.

Rep. Judy Chu, who represents Monterey Park praised local law enforcement and thanked those who reached out to her to offer support, including the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Chu spoke at a news conference on Sunday evening after the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed a man found dead after a police standoff in Torrance was the same person suspected of carrying out a mass shooting in Monterey Park late Saturday. Chu thanked local law enforcement officials for their efforts in tracking the suspect.

Chu said she received calls from Mayorkas and from the White House, although she did not specify whether she spoke with President Biden. Chu also said she spoke with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

“I got calls today from the White House, from the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and from our mayor, Karen Bass,” Chu said. “All expressed concerns and offered their resources to us to make sure that we could end this terrible situation.”

Chu said the residents of Monterey Park, where she has lived for 37 years, are resilient and implored the community to “feel safe.”

“What I saw today, and what I see at this moment is indeed we are resilient, and we are stronger together,” Chu said.

Law enforcement sources tell CNN that the suspect in the Monterey Park shooting may have sought medical treatment shortly before his capture.

Police received a tip Sunday from an area hospital where a man fitting the description of the suspect came into the emergency room seeking treatment for injuries consistent with having been in a fight.

The man waited for a period of time and then left the hospital without receiving treatment. The hospital notified authorities when they saw the similarity to the wanted person depicted in photos on the sheriff's department's Twitter account.

A short time later, police in Torrance pulled over a white cargo van, where the Monterey Park shooting suspect was eventually found dead following a standoff.

The scene was chaotic with people trying to escape and others wounded as police officers arrived at the scene of the mass shooting Saturday night in Monterey Park, California, according to Scott Wiese, chief of the Monterey Park Police Department.

Officers got to the scene "less than 3 minutes" from when the first call was made, he said.

"The first officers on scene were some of my youngest officers. They'd only been on the street for a very short period of time," Wiese said during a news conference Sunday.

He continued:

"When they came into the parking lot, it was chaos. There were wounded people, there were people trying to flee out all of the doors. They immediately went into action and within just a couple of minutes, those officers had entered the location looking for the suspect. That is our protocol here. We do not wait. 
"Inside, they came across a scene that none of them had been prepared for. There were injured people inside. There were dead people inside. And my young officers did their job and searched for a suspect and then came back and had to deal with the carnage that was inside. And it was extensive.
"That's one of the reasons I need to make sure that they are OK."