They reveal the identity of the Monterey Park attacker 2:22
(CNN) --
Investigators in Monterey Park, California, are still searching for why a 72-year-old gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in a shooting at a ballroom dance studio he used to frequent. devastating the Asian community on the eve of the Lunar New Year celebration.
Huu Can Tran, the attacker, was discovered dead this Sunday morning in the nearby city of Torrance.
The Los Angeles County sheriff said he fatally shot himself as police approached his vehicle, after a night and day of terror, with a gunman on the loose and families desperate for news of his loved ones. .
Hours earlier, shortly after thousands of festival-goers packed the city streets, a gunman had entered the Star Ballroom Dance Studio shortly before 10:30 p.m. Saturday, firing a barrage of shots before heading towards another ballroom in neighboring Alhambra, where two people disarmed him of an "extended high-capacity magazine-fed semi-automatic assault pistol" before fleeing, Sheriff Robert Luna said.
“By his body language, his facial expression, his eyes, he was looking for people,” Brandon Tsay, who met the suspect at the Alhambra compound, told The New York Times.
When police arrived at the dance studio in Monterey Park less than three minutes after the first call for help, "they were met with a scene that none of them were prepared for," said city police chief Scott Wiese. .
The attacker had inflicted "extensive" carnage, leaving chaos behind as people fled the building with the dead and wounded still inside, he said.
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Follow live updates of the shooting in Monterey Park, California
Shooting in Los Angeles County leaves at least 10 dead 4:20
The mass shooting is one of the deadliest in California history and at least the 33rd armed attack in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which that four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.
The shooting came as a shock to many who felt that Monterey Park, where about 65% of residents are of Asian descent, was a safe enclave for the robust Asian community.
Amid the carnage and in fear of Saturday night, the city canceled the second day of its Lunar New Year festival, typically one of its most joyous holidays.
“I have lived here for 37 years, and I could never have imagined something so terrible happening,” Rep. Judy Chu, who represents Monterey Park in Congress, told CNN on Sunday, adding: “This is a tight-knit community and it has It's been very peaceful all these years, so it's even more devastating for this to happen."
Officers patrol the area near the scene of the shooting at Star Ballroom Dance Studio. (Credit: Mike Blake/Reuters)
As of Monday morning, authorities had not identified any of the dead or injured.
The coroner's office is still working to identify the deceased so police can notify their families, Luna said, adding that the victims are generally over 50.
Seven of the injured victims were still hospitalized on Sunday, she said.
This is what we know so far about the shooting
Authorities found the suspect in a nearby town: At
around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, police in Torrance, about 30 miles southwest of Monterey Park, saw a white cargo van matching the description of one leaving the Alhambra dance studio scene, Luna said.
The officers followed the van into a shopping center parking lot and began to get out of their patrol car to approach the driver, later identified as Tran, but backed off when they heard a gunshot from inside the van, he said.
Armored vehicles and SWAT teams arrived and eventually cleared the van, discovering Tran dead inside.
This map pinpoints key locations visited by the suspect in the Monterey Park, California massacre.
Evidence links suspect to shooting:
Inside the van, investigators found "various pieces of evidence" linking Tran to the Monterey Park and Alhambra dance studios, the sheriff said, without providing further details.
They also found a gun, Luna said.
The suspect was carrying a semi-automatic weapon: The weapon he seized from the gunman at the Alhambra dance studio was a Cobray M11 9mm semi-automatic weapon, a law enforcement officer told CNN;
it is designed to take 30-round magazines that allow rapid firing without having to frequently change magazines.
The recovered weapon was traced back to the suspect, giving authorities his name and description.
The reason is still unknown:
Investigators will consider any available criminal or mental health history, Luna said.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department obtained a search warrant for Tran's home in a senior community called The Lakes at Hemet West in Hemet, California, about 80 miles east of Monterey Park, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff confirmed. Hemet police.
Tran could be quick to anger and sometimes suspicious, his ex-wife and others said.
As details of the shooting unfolded Sunday, President Joe Biden called the shooting a "senseless act" as governors and other leaders across the country called for action to curb gun violence and support a community which was already on the verge of bullying, as attacks on Asian Americans increased during the covid-19 pandemic.
“Even as we continue to search for answers about this attack, we know how deeply this attack has impacted the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) community,” Biden said.
“Monterey Park is home to one of the largest AAPI communities in the United States, many of whom celebrated the Lunar New Year together with loved ones and friends this weekend.”
Monterey Park shooting: At least 10 people have been killed 2:37
"I knew I was going to die"
A 26-year-old man who encountered the armed suspect at the Alhambra ballroom just minutes from the scene of the massacre knew immediately that he was dangerous, he told The New York Times.
Brandon Tsay was first alerted to the man's presence when he heard the front doors of Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio close while working in the box office at the business his family has run for three generations, he said.
“He was looking at me and looking around, making no secret that he was trying to do harm,” Tsay told The New York Times.
"Her eyes of hers were menacing."
The gunman pointed a semi-automatic weapon at Tsay, he told the Times, noting that it was the first weapon he had seen in real life.
"My heart sank," Tsay said, "I knew I was going to die."
Tsay wrestled with the man for about a minute and a half and eventually took the gun from him, he told the Times.
The man was able to grab the gun when the man removed his hand, as if he was manipulating it to start shooting, Tsay said.
“That moment, it was a primal instinct,” he said.
“Something happened there.
I do not know what happened to me".
Once Tsay had control of the gun, he pointed it at the suspect and yelled at him to "get out of here," he said.
Hours later, Tsay was still processing what had happened, and was heartbroken for the victims in the Monterey Park community, he told the Times.
“We have a very tight-knit community of dancers,” she said.
"It feels so terrible that something like this happened, for one of our individuals to try to harm others."
The suspect used to frequent the ballroom, the sources say.
Tran had once been a familiar face at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where he gave informal dance lessons, three people who knew him told CNN, though it's unclear how often he visited in recent years.
He even met her ex-wife there about two decades ago, he said, adding that he saw her at a dance, introduced himself and offered her free lessons.
The two married shortly 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 towards her, he said he could get angry quickly.
For example, he said, if she missed a dance step, he would get upset because he felt she was making him look bad.
After several years together, he had the impression that he had lost interest in her, he said.
Her sister, who also asked not to be named, confirmed her version.
Tran filed for divorce in late 2005 and a judge approved the divorce the following year, Los Angeles court records show.
Another longtime acquaintance of Tran's also remembers him as a regular patron of the dance studio.
The friend, who also asked not to be named, was close to Tran in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when he said Tran would come to the dance studio "almost every night" from his home in nearby Saint Gabriel.
Tran at the time often complained that the ballroom instructors didn't like him and said "bad things about him," the friend recalled, 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's friend said he had not seen Tran in several years and that he was "totally shocked" when he found out about the shooting.
“I know a lot of people, and if they go to the Star studio, they hang out there,” the friend said, adding that he was “worried that I might meet some” of the shooting victims.
Tran worked as a trucker at times, his ex-wife said.
He was an immigrant from China, according to a copy of her marriage license that she showed to CNN.
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, he bought a mobile home in a Hemet senior community.
-- CNN's Joe Sutton, John Miller, Jeff Winter, Casey Tolan, Scott Glover, Matt Meyer, Melissa Alonso, Michelle Watson, Betsy Klein and Sarah Fortinsky contributed to this report.
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