Police searching for the motive behind the shooting that killed 11 people at a Los Angeles-area dance hall arrived Monday in a trailer-house community to investigate the 72-year-old suspect’s past and ties to the ballroom. I was.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies searched the gated senior community home where Hu Kang Tran lived in the town of Hemet, an hour’s drive from the Monterey Park crime scene, Hemet police said. Mann, Alan Reyes told the Associated Press.
Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wease said he didn’t know the results of the search or whether Tran, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, left a note indicating why he shot Dancehall.
“We all want answers to questions that may never be answered,” Wiese said. “It’s kind of a mystery. I know my individual officers want to know why. I know my family wants to know why. The reason is a big part of this.” The problem is we don’t know why.”
Tran visited Hemet police twice this month to report that he was a victim of fraud, theft and poisoning by family members in the LA area a decade or two ago. but never did.
He was found dead on Sunday in the van he fled after attempting to attack a second dance hall, officials said. The mayor of Monterey Park said he may have frequented the first dance hall Tran targeted, and his ex-wife told CNN that she had met him there and offered him free lessons. said to have provided
The death toll rose to 11 on Monday after health officials said one of the 10 people injured had died, according to the LA County Health Department.
Authorities have not released information about the 11th fatality, but all but one other are aged 60, according to information released Monday by the Los Angeles coroner’s office, which provided the initial identification. That’s it.
My Nhan, 65, Lilian Li, 63, and Xiujuan Yu, 57, were named. Her two other women were in her sixties and one was in her seventies. Valentino Alvero, 68, was the only male identified. Three men in their 70s and a man in his 60s also died.
Nan’s family said in a statement that she was a loving person whose kindness was contagious and was a regular at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio.
“That’s what she loved to do. But, unfairly, Saturday was her last dance,” the family said. I never imagined that her life would end so suddenly.”
California business records show that officials share little about Tran, who once owned a trucking company.
Tran’s Trucking Inc. is based in Monterey Park and was state licensed from September 2002 to August 2004.
He married in 2001 and divorced five years later over irreconcilable differences, according to Los Angeles Superior Court records. The couple had no children, no joint property, and neither had to pay alimony.
In the uncontested case, Tran said in a filing that he could not leave work to attend court hearings, but did not disclose where he worked or what he did. .
His ex-wife told CNN that they met at a dance hall and got married shortly after.
She said he would get upset if he missed a dance step, but he was never violent towards her.
Tran eventually left the San Gabriel Valley, a melting pot of Asian immigrants, and settled in Hemet, a low-income community of mostly retirees in Riverside County, 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.
Tran lived in Lakes, Hemet West, a gated community off the busy roads with views of the snow-capped mountains. The development features amenities such as a 9-hole golf course, shuffleboard court, and dance floor. Properties for sale ranged from $45,000 to $222,000.
Reyes said Hemet police had no record of an incident involving Trang in the community or a call for service at his home.
The shootings during the Lunar New Year celebrations sent a wave of terror into the Asian-American community and cast a shadow over festivals across the country.
The massacre, the fifth mass murder in the country this month, marks one of California’s biggest holidays seen in many Asian cultures and is a new addition to communities targeted by high-profile violence in recent years. gave a great blow.
It was also the worst attack since May 24, when 21 people died at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“We understand he may have visited this dance hall, and perhaps the motives have to do with personal relationships. It’s something I think we’re investigating,” said Monterey Park Mayor Henry Law.Tran once had a city and neighborhood address, according to public records.
Mayor and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna stressed that the motive for the attack remained unclear.
Luna said the suspect was carrying a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and a second handgun was found in the van where Tran died.
For nearly two decades, Tolan is the second-oldest mass murderer in the United States, according to a database compiled by the Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University. The only senior mass murderer was a 73-year-old man who killed five people in Yuma County, Arizona in 2011 before committing suicide. This database tracks every mass murder (defined as his four deaths, not including criminals) that has taken place in the United States since 2006.
Officers arrived at the Star Ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park within three minutes of receiving the call, according to Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese.
There, they found a carnage taking place inside, with people trying to escape through every door.
“When they entered the parking lot, it was chaos,” Wiese said.
About 20 minutes after the initial attack, the attackers broke into the Lai Lai ballroom in the nearby Alhambra city.
Brandon Tsai was in Robbie at the time and said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” ​​that he thought he was going to die.
“Something hit me. “When I got the courage, I rushed at him with both hands, grabbed my weapon, and we struggled.”
Tsai grabbed a gun and pointed it at the man and shouted.
The assailant paused, but returned to the van and called police with the gun in hand.
Luna told reporters on Sunday that two men had taken weapons from an attacker, Tsai, who works several days a week at a dance hall her grandparents started, but security screened on “Good Morning America.” Footage showed two men struggling with a gun.
Taxin was reported from Hemet, Dazio from Alhambra, and Melley from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Andrew Dalton, Jay C. Hong, Eugene Garcia (Los Angeles), and Julie Watson (San Diego) contributed to this report.
Amy Thaksin, Stephanie Dagio, Terry Tan, Brian Melee
Associated Press
