The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported that a shooting occurred Saturday night in a city east of Los Angeles, leaving at least 10 people dead and 10 more injured.
Around 10:22 p.m. local time, shots were heard inside a ballroom dance facility owned by Chinese people on West Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park.
According to Captain Andrew Meyer of the LA County Sheriff’s Department, when local officers arrived, they discovered “people flooding out of the location.”
At least ten patients with states ranging from stable to critical were sent to local hospitals.
Authorities in the area are searching for a man who escaped following the incident. About two miles north of Monterey Park in Alhambra, where a second incident might have occurred, police are also looking into it.
Meyer did not elaborate on the shooter’s identity or potential motivation. He continued by saying it wasn’t apparent if the shooting was a deliberate act of hatred.
The probe also involves the FBI and state officials.
According to the Census Bureau, Monterey Park is home to around 59,000 individuals, 65 percent of whom identify as Asian.
At the conclusion of the first day of a two-day street event to mark the Lunar New Year, the attack took place. One of Southern California’s biggest free street fairs, the occasion, which started on the night of the Lunar New Year, regularly draws over 100,000 attendees and over a hundred food vendors, performers, and retailers.
According to Monterey Park Police, the gunshot has forced the cancellation of the festival.
Ten people were killed and at least ten others were injured in a shooting that took place in Monterey Park, California, on the first day of a two-day Lunar New Year festival. With thousands of participants, the festivities are among the biggest in Southern California.
What we do know is this:
Police said that a man shooter fled the site.
Another incident is being looked into by authorities in the nearby city of Alhambra.
In the local time zone, the shooting was reported at 10:22 pm.
Approximately 60,000 individuals call Monterey Park home, with 65% of them being of Asian heritage.
President Biden has received an update on the incident in Monterey Park from Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, according to a tweet from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
She received a directive from Biden to “ensure that the FBI is fully supporting local police” and to “frequently update him today as more details are learned.” Added Jean-Pierre.
The shooting in Monterey Park occurs in the midst of an already violent year in the United States.
Data gathered by the Gun Violence Archive shows that at least 33 mass shootings have occurred in the nation only in 2023.
According to the archive, a mass shooting occurs when at least four victims—other than the shooter—are hurt or killed.
There have been an estimated 2,539 gun-related fatalities so far this year, including 1,452 suicides.
Brady, a nonprofit fighting gun violence, tweeted in response to the massacre, “We don’t have to live this way.” We urgently need gun reform.