Lunar New Year Shooting Suspect Identified

The man who was "possibly" a suspect in the mass shooting at Monterey Park was discovered dead in a white cargo van in Torrance on Sunday, according to two law enforcement officials with access to the case.

Before breaking a window, multiple police enforcement agencies had encircled the car for more than an hour. NBC Los Angeles's overhead coverage showed law enforcement officers unlocking the van's doors and entering the vehicle minutes afterward.

Lunar New Year Shooting

Sheriff Robert Luna of Los Angeles County stated earlier on Sunday that he could not determine whether the individual in question was the gunman his department was searching for. The white van matched the description of the car involved in the adjacent Alhambra incident.

Twenty minutes after the incident in Monterey Park, patrons of a dance establishment in neighboring Alhambra pulled a man with a gun away from him as he entered. Luna stated that he thought there was a connection between the two incidents but could not determine alternative possibilities.

On Sunday afternoon, police encircled a car containing a person who, according to Luna, was "probably" the suspect but whose condition was unknown. The spectacular vehicle-related scenario was caught by TV helicopters flying overhead.

Luna stated they were still examining the connection between the van, the suspect, and the incident. Two armored vehicles were positioned in front and behind the van, which was stationed in a parking lot in Torrance, west of Los Angeles, as were cops in fatigues and body armor in the rear of one of the police cars, as shown by aerial footage from a helicopter.

Police issued an alert describing the suspect as a guy of Asian ancestry, around 5 feet 10 inches tall, who should be regarded as "armed and dangerous." Luna announced that a victim center had been established and invited anybody who feared a family member had been at the dance hall to visit.

The suspect entered the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the city of Monterey Park on Saturday and began firing until he was disarmed by guests, according to a previous statement by Luna.

Luna did not specify the sort of weapon used, save to say that it was not a high-powered assault rifle. He stated that they were examining if many weapons were used. Officers responded to the scene of the incident just after 10 p.m. on Saturday in response to a complaint of shots fired and discovered ten injured victims outside the dance studio.

According to Luna, the ten wounded were brought to local hospitals where their conditions ranged from stable to critical. In the hunt for the culprit, homicide detectives collaborated with the Monterey Park Police Department, the FBI, and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, among other law enforcement agencies.

Monterey Park is an approximately 60,000-person community located on the eastern fringe of Los Angeles. Most of its population are Asian immigrants or their descendants, with Chinese constituting the largest group. The dancing studio in downtown Monterey Park is just a few steps from city hall on Garvey Avenue, the city's major highway, lined with strip malls with small companies whose signs are written in both English and Chinese.

Threat to Asian Americans

In the city, Cantonese and Mandarin are extensively spoken, Chinese holidays are observed, and Chinese films are played. Assisting local police are federal officers from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that President Biden had been informed about the shooting.

Wong Wei, a local neighbor, told the Los Angeles Times that his acquaintance was at the dancing class and was in the restroom when the shooting began. According to the suspect, when she came from the restroom, she found a shooter and three bodies: two ladies and the studio's manager.

The friend then escaped to his residence at around 11 p.m., Wei claimed, adding that his pals informed him that the gunman appeared to fire randomly with a long rifle. He told the newspaper, "They do not know why; therefore, they run."

Peter Fong, a friend of one of the dancing studio's owners, informed CBS News that the owner was among the victims of the shooting.

Officials were also investigating a second incident that occurred around two miles away in Alhambra immediately after the gunshot in Monterey Park to determine whether the two were related.

Two law enforcement officials told CBS News that investigators were analyzing the ballistics of the weapon seized at the Alhambra crime scene to determine if it was used in the shooting in Monterey Park and if the suspect was the same. The firearm found in Alhambra was not an assault weapon, according to authorities.

A neighbor of the Monterey Park studio told CBS Los Angeles that the gunshots sounded like fireworks, but he did not think much of it at the moment because of the celebrations in the neighborhood.

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