Monterey Park Mass Shooting Suspect ID'ed as 72-Year-Old

Police confirm he fatally shot himself as they closed in
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 23, 2023 12:00 AM CST
Updated Jan 23, 2023 12:02 AM CST
Suspect in Monterey Park Mass Shooting Identified as 72-Year-Old
This combination image created using photos provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shows a male suspect allegedly involved in a shooting on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, in Monterey Park, Calif.   (Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department via AP)

The suspected gunman who killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in a ballroom dance studio near Los Angeles on Saturday night has been identified as Huu Can Tran, 72, and police sources have confirmed he fatally shot himself in a strip mall parking lot Sunday as officers closed in on him. The shooting took place as people were celebrating Lunar New Year's Eve in a predominantly Asian area that hosts one of southern California's largest Lunar New Year's events. Police also confirmed that about 20 minutes after the Monterey Park shooting, the same suspect walked into a second dance studio nearby with a gun, the Los Angeles Times reports. No one was injured in that incident, ABC 7 reports.

"The suspect walked in there, probably with the intent to kill two more people," the Los Angeles County sheriff says. "But two community members disarmed him, took possession of his weapon, and the suspect ran away." What police are not yet clear on is any alleged motive. Tran, who lived in a 55+ mobile home "active living community" in Hemet, about 80 miles away, had recently walked into his local police station and claimed his family was attempting to poison him. The firearm taken from him in the second dance studio, which is in Alhambra, was a type illegal to own in California: magazine-fed semiautomatic assault pistol with an extended large-capacity magazine. Five men and five women were killed in Monterey Park, and seven of those injured, some of them critically, remained hospitalized Sunday night, KTLA reports. (More Monterey Park shooting stories.)

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