California: Gunman in mass shooting dies after standoff
January 23, 2023
A man inside a vehicle died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday after engaging police in an hourslong standoff after he was linked to an incident where eleven were shot dead in Monterey Park on Saturday night.
Police officials said the man inside the vehicle was the man they believed to be the gunman in the Monterey Park mass shooting.
Speaking at a news conference on Sunday evening, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna identified the man as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, and said there were no other suspects at large. He added that the motive behind the shooting was still unclear.
Luna initially told reporters that a 'tactical' police operation was underway during a news briefing on Sunday afternoon.
How the search for suspect gunman unfolded
The massive police operation to hunt down the gunman began when he escaped after killing 11 people at a dance venue in Monterey Park, near Los Angeles, California.
The dance venue was near the site of a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration that had been attended by thousands of people and is among one of the largest in Southern California.
On Sunday, police about 20 miles (34 kilometers) away in Torrance, California, were using armored vehicles to surround a white cargo van that they believed connected to the shooting suspect, officials said.
Officers smashed a window and entered the van at around 1 p.m. local time (2100 GMT).
Aerial footage showed what appeared to be the body of a man slumped in the driver's seat.
Several police vehicles left the scene after that, but there was no confirmation on whether there was a body inside. Sheriff Robert Luna said that a "tactical incident" was underway before police forced their entry into the van.
The predominantly Asian community in Monterey Park, only eight miles east of downtown Los Angeles, was shaken by the news of shooting. Festivites were canceled on Sunday.
About 60,000 people live in the Los Angeles suburb.
What do we know about the mass shooting?
The shooting took place after 10 p.m. local time Saturday (0600 GMT).
Luna told reporters that 10 people were pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said five of the dead were women and five men.
About 30 minutes after the shooting, a man with a gun entered the Lai Lai Ballroom, which is around 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the site of the Monterey Park shooting.
Authorities said earlier that they believe the two events are connected.
Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia said in a tweet, "Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones tonight in our neighboring city, Monterey Park, where a mass shooting just occurred."
The tragedy marked the fifth mass killing in the United States this year, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the US.
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