Stunning videos show hero wrestling gun from killer; VP Harris to visit California: Monterey Park shooting updates
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – Stunning surveillance video has emerged showing the heroic efforts of a dance hall worker who disarmed the Monterey Park killer in the nearby city of Alhambra about 20 minutes after his rampage.
The death toll has risen to 11 in the Saturday night attack at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio. About 20 minutes after the initial attack, the killer strode into the Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio in Alhambra, armed with a magazine-fed, semiautomatic assault pistol
Video obtained by CNN shows the killer entering a small room at the Lai Lai. Brandon Tsay, 26, whose family runs the dance hall, is then seen walking toward the gunman, arms outstretched, and moves quickly toward the killer, pushing him out the doorway and into a lobby area.
“I’m going to die. This is it. This is the end for me,” Tsay recalled thinking when he first saw the gunman. “But then something happened. Something came over me.”
Video from a camera in the room the men then enter shows Tsay ripping the gun from the gunman's hands. That video, obtained by NBC News, shows the gunman continuing to wrestle Tsay, punching him and grabbing a water bottle and hitting Tsay with it.
“I threatened him that I would shoot,” Tsay told CNN. “I thought I would have to kill him, that I would have to shoot a person.”
But the killer walked out the door. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound the next day.
HORROR, HEROISM:In Monterey Park shooting, ballrooms became the scene of sudden tragedy, courage
Fiery Newsom denounces opponents of gun safety reforms
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that as he grappled two days ago with the tragedy of 11 people getting killed at a Monterey Park dance studio, he feared attention on that shooting would soon give way to another horrible event.
That concern would soon become reality, and after meeting Tuesday with members of the Half Moon Bay community impacted by the shooting deaths of seven farmworkers the day before, Newsom took to task those he believes have facilitated these kinds of mass killings by granting easy access to firearms.
“Only in America. No. 1 in gun ownership, No. 1 in gun deaths. It’s not even complicated,’’ Newsom said in a passionate news conference. “We’ve allowed this to happen. It doesn’t have to be this way. It wasn’t always this way. A few decades ago we didn’t experience these kind of things.’’
The Democratic governor focused his wrath on Republicans he called “obstructionists,’’ their House leader Kevin McCarthy – a fellow Californian whom Newsom chided for not uttering “one damn word’’ of condemnation for the attacks – and on judges who have rolled back gun safety reform measures.
“I’ve got no ideological opposition to someone owning a gun responsibly,’’ Newsom said, “but what the hell is wrong with us that we’ve allowed these weapons of war and large-capacity clips out on the streets and sidewalks?’’
Vice President Harris to visit California in wake of mass killings
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit California in the aftermath of two mass killings in three days that left 18 people dead and renewed the president’s push for gun control.
"Our hearts are with the people of California," President Joe Biden said Tuesday.
Seven people died Tuesday in two shootings near the Northern California community of Half Moon Bay, just days after a rampage in Southern California killed 11.
Biden said he’s spoken to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and local leaders and pledged the federal government’s support.
His remarks came before meeting with Democratic congressional leaders at the White House, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The president pointed to new legislation introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, to ban assault weapons, urging them to “send that to my desk as quickly as you can.” The bill faces a tough climb in the Senate and is not expected to pass in the Republican-led House.
-- Joey Garrison
Police draw scrutiny for taking 5 hours to alert public of threat
Authorities were pressed to explain why it took five hours after Saturday's carnage to alert the public that the killer was on the loose. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday that his department was “strategic” in its decision to release information but that he would review what happened. The shooting took place late Saturday night, and the department reported several hours later that the unknown assailant was at large.
At 2:49 a.m., more than four hours after the initial 911 calls, the Sheriff’s Information Bureau issued a news advisory confirming fatalities and that the suspect was male, but there was no mention of the status of the investigation. Shortly after 3:30 a.m., more than five hours after the shooting, Capt. Andrew Meyer held a briefing and said the death toll was 10 and that “the suspect fled the scene and remains outstanding.”
Luna defends information timeline
“When we started putting out public information, the priority was to get this person into custody,” Luna said. “Ultimately it worked. We will go back and look at it as we always do. Nobody is as critical as ourselves as to what worked and specifically what didn’t work."
Brian Higgins, an adjunct professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former police chief in Bergen County, New Jersey, told The Associated Press that an alert should have gone out right away.
“What took so long?” Higgins said. “Maybe they didn’t have a good handle on what they had. But if they didn’t know, they should have erred on the side of caution and put this out.”
MONTEREY PARK REELS:City that is a safe haven for Asian communities is shattered by mass shooting
Shock, relief 2 days after tragedy
Thomas Wong, a longtime Monterey Park council member, said he is navigating bouts of shock and relief. The shock comes from knowing that his hometown suffered the worst mass shooting in the U.S. since a deadly school attack in Uvalde, Texas, in May. The relief comes from knowing the suspected killer in Monterey Park can no longer hurt anyone.
"We see (mass shootings) proliferate in other parts of the country, but you never expect it to happen in your own backyard," Wong said Monday in between consoling fellow residents. "To start off the year like this is an unimaginable tragedy." Read more here.
– Terry Collins, Tami Abdollah and Alia Wong
Wounded patient dies two days after shooting
One of the four people being treated at the LA County-USC Medical Center died Monday of gunshot wounds, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said Monday. A department news release said another of the wounded patients was in serious condition and the other two were recovering.
Authorities said the initial death count from Saturday night's attack at a dance studio was 10, and at least 10 were injured. The body of the shooter was later found in a van parked about 30 miles away in Torrance.
VICTIMS REMEMBERED:Families remember those slain in Monterey Park mass shooting: 'Our biggest cherleader,' the 'life of any party'
All 11 Monterey Park victims identified
After notifying relatives, the authorities released Tuesday the complete list of the 11 people killed in the dance hall shooting, who ranged in age from 57 to 76.
The six women who perished were: My My Nhan, 65; Lilan Li, 63; Xiujuan Yu, 57; Muoi Dai Ung, 67; Hongying Jian, 62; and Diana Man Ling Tom, 70.
The five men were: Yu Lun Kao, 72; Chia Ling Yau, 76; Valentino Marcos Alvero, 68; Wen Tau Yu, 64; and Ming Wei Ma, 72.
Luna said the gunman fired 42 shots at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, which is popular with older Asian Americans. In addition to those killed, nine were wounded. After leaving the carnage, the killer drove to the Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio in nearby Alhambra, where a likely attack was thwarted by a worker, Luna said.
How to help
People who want to help survivors of the shooting and families of the victims can donate on the verified Go Fund Me page. Donations can be made to the general victims fund, which by 5 p.m. ET Tuesday had received nearly $500,000 of a goal of $750,000, or through personal victim pages on the site.
Timeline from first 911 call to discovery of killer's body
At 10:22 p.m. local time Saturday, police received 911 calls about an active shooter at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio on Garvey Street, the main drag in Monterey Park Police arrived within three minutes and found chaos as patrons fled the studio. They discovered dead and wounded people inside.
At 12:52 p.m. Sunday, the county sheriff's SWAT team cleared the van. They found "the suspect sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene,'' Luna said.
A timeline from the first call to that announcement is here.
Authorities search for a motive
Authorities continued searching for clues about gunman Huu Can Tran's motive, which remained unclear. “We all want answers to questions that we may never have answers to,” Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said. “That’s kind of the enigma of this.''
Luna acknowledged reports that Tran acted out of jealousy but said he could not confirm them. Tran is believed to have offered dance lessons and met his now ex-wife at the Star studio. Luna said a rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and equipment to manufacture homemade silencers were found at Tran's home.
Contributing: Orlando Mayorquin and Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
