A screenshot from a video shows emergency responders helping a person into an ambulance at the scene of the shooting in Monterey Park, California [TNLA via Reuters]
Los Angeles, January 22 (RHC)-- At least 10 people have been killed and 10 others injured in a mass shooting east of Los Angeles following a Lunar New Year celebration that attracted thousands, police said. The shooting, which took place late on Saturday, occurred at a ballroom dance club on Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park.
Captain Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said people were “pouring out of the location screaming” when officers arrived at the venue around 10:30pm (06:30 GMT Sunday). In a news conference hours after the attack, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that five men and five women died at the scene. The injured were in conditions “ranging from stable to critical.”
Luna said the suspect was still at large and gave a preliminary description of the attacker as an “Asian male” between the ages of 30 and 50, but said investigators had so far received “different descriptions of one suspect” from survivors and witnesses.
“We don’t know if this is specifically a hate crime defined by law,” he added, “but who walks into a dance hall and guns down 20 people?” Authorities said they were investigating another incident in the nearby city of Alhambra to see whether it was connected.
As a result of the shooting, the police said Lunar New Year festivities in Monterey Park for Sunday have been cancelled. Reporting from Monterey Park, journalist and videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel old reporters the details of the incident were still “fairly unclear.”
“We are waiting for the names [of those deceased] and the motive of the suspect,” he said. “A lot of the people who have gathered out here from the community are in shock.”
Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people with a large Asian population, located about 16 km (10 miles) from downtown Los Angeles.
“Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones tonight in our neighboring city, Monterey Park, where a mass shooting just occurred,” Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia said in a tweet.
