It was in a small town described as calm, of some 60,000 inhabitants, on the outskirts of Los Angeles that the drama hitting the United States took place. In Monterey Park, more exactly, where the Asian community mainly resides, a man fired in a dance hall on Saturday evening January 21, killing 11 people and injuring 9 others. Gradually the investigation lifts the veil on the profile of the killer, his motivations or the identification of the victims. Here is a summary of what we know, this Tuesday, January 24, about this shooting.
- Two dance halls targeted in the same evening
On Saturday night, a man broke into the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. It fired 42 rounds and slaughtered 11 men and women, all over the age of 50. 9 people were injured. After this carnage, the shooter tried to continue his murderous evening in another dance hall not far from there, but he was disarmed by two people before fleeing and committing suicide in his van, surrounded by the police.
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Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna paid tribute to both individuals, explaining: “I can tell you that the suspect walked in, probably with the intention of killing more people, and two brave members of the community decided to take action and disarm him. »
The weapon found is not an assault rifle but “a semi-automatic magazine-loaded assault pistol […] to which was attached a high-capacity long-life magazine”detailed the sheriff.
Responding to the first emergency calls on Saturday at 10:20 p.m. local time, the police found 10 dead people in the dance hall, five women and five men, most of them over 50 years old. An eleventh person subsequently died.
The Los Angeles medical examiner identified four of the victims: My Nhan, 65, Valentino Alvero, 68, Xiujuan Yu, 57, and Lilan Li, 63.
“We enter the Lunar New Year with broken hearts. We had no idea she could die so suddenly.”My Nhan’s family said on social media.
- The accustomed shooter of dance halls
The killer, Huu Can Tran, 72, had emigrated to the United States from China, told CNN his ex-wife, met two decades earlier in this same Star Ballroom Dance Studio. The couple got married quickly, but the union did not last. He was not violent, according to her, but he sometimes lost patience if he felt humiliated, if she missed a dance step for example.
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According to a former friend, also interviewed by the American channel, the killer assiduously frequented the dance hall, where he was nevertheless “unfriendly towards many people”which he accused of saying “mean things about him”.
His mobile home in Hemet, nearly 140 km east of Los Angeles, was searched, said Robert Luna, adding that a gun and ammunition had been found. Huu Can Tran’s criminal record only mentions one arrest in 1994 for illegally carrying a firearm.
Many gray areas remain about the motive for the shooting. “We still don’t have a motive”acknowledged at a press conference the sheriff.
Investigators are currently exploring the links between the killer and the two dance halls, in particular the relationship he had there, according to the “Los Angeles Times”which cites police sources.
On Sunday, a local entrepreneur had already mentioned to AFP the track of possible jealousy to explain this massacre. “The wife was invited to the party but the husband could not be invited”had advanced Chester Chong, an acquaintance of a dance instructor. “And the husband might be angry and jealous. »
- Half-masting of flags by Joe Biden
President Joe Biden has ordered flags adorning public buildings to be lowered to half-mast. “While there is still much we don’t know about the motive for this senseless attack, we know that many families are grieving tonight, or praying for their loved one to recover from their injuries.”reacted Joe Biden in a press release.
Visiting Monterey Park on Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed the uncontrollable proliferation of firearms in the United States. ” It’s a shame “pinged the Democrat. “We should do better than that, we should lead the way for the world, not just respond to these countless crises and express, again and again and again, these damn prayers and condolences. »
It is the deadliest shooting in the country since a gunman killed 21 people in May at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
The United States pays a very heavy price for the dissemination of firearms on its territory and the ease with which Americans have access to them. Around 49,000 people died from gunshot wounds in 2021 in the United States, compared to 45,000 in 2020, which was already a record year. This represents more than 130 deaths per day, more than half of which are suicides.
