A gunman who killed ten people and injured another ten in a mass shooting at a Los Angeles-area nightclub after a Lunar New Year celebration has been found dead after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators identified 72-year-old Huu Can Tran as the gunman behind the mass shooting.
Police found him dead in a van, in which authorities say he fled after people thwarted his attempt at a second shooting Saturday night.
LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said the shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park left five women and five men dead and injured another 10 people.
Then 20 to 30 minutes later, a man with a gun entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in nearby Alhambra. Authorities believe the two events are connected, but no details about a possible motive have been shared.
Hours earlier, Mr Luna said authorities were looking for a white van after witnesses reported seeing the suspect flee from Alhambra in such a vehicle.
“We believe there is a person inside of that vehicle," Mr Luna said.
"We don’t know their condition, but we’re going to handle that in safest manner that we possibly can and try and identify that person. Could it be our suspect? Possibly."
By midday, police in tactical vehicles and bomb-squad trucks surrounded a white van in a parking lot.
In response to a question, Luna said it was possible that the person barricaded in van is dead.
Members of a SWAT team entered the van a short time later and looked through its contents before walking away. It was unclear what they found.
The sheriff declined to say what type of gun was recovered in Alhambra. He said investigators believe the gun used in Monterey Park was not an assault rifle.
Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people on the eastern edge of Los Angeles and is made up mostly of Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian-Americans.
It’s too early in the investigation to know if the gunman knew anyone at the ballroom or if it was a hate crime or not, Mr Meyer said.
It marked the fifth mass shooting in the US this month and the deadliest since 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the country.
The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub.
Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, told the Los Angles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door.
The people also told Mr Choi that there was a shooter with a machine gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him so he could reload.
Mr Choi said he believes the shooting took place at a dance club and, while Sergeant Boese did not name the business, he said it was in the 120 block of Garvey Avenue.
One business along that block is Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where an event called 'Star Night' was held from 8pm to 11.30pm, according to a calendar on its website.
The newspaper reported that the shooting happened after 10pm - which was 6am in the UK.
Saturday was the start of the two-day festival, which is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in Southern California.
This guy was the exact opposite of typical mass shooters
BBC News states that "an old friend who lost contact" said Mr. Tran was a patron of the ballroom, but "was hostile to a lot of people there".
So it sounds like a very personal vendetta, but I'm not sure why he then went to the other ballroom in Alhambra.
Still, something caused a 72yr old Asian man who reportedly loved ballroom dancing to drive to two different Ballrooms in two different cities with the intent of shooting people. Were his victims ones he was 'hostile' too? Was there a medical condition affecting his judgement?
We'll probably never find all the answers.
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
LadyTevar wrote: ↑2023-01-23 06:20pm
BBC News states that "an old friend who lost contact" said Mr. Tran was a patron of the ballroom, but "was hostile to a lot of people there".
Yeah, no shit he was hostile!
I keep hearing the TV news say he had an "assault pistol". WTF is an "assault pistol"? I have never heard that term before this particular mass shooting.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Broomstick wrote: ↑2023-01-23 08:03pm
I keep hearing the TV news say he had an "assault pistol". WTF is an "assault pistol"? I have never heard that term before this particular mass shooting.
Before there were assault weapons, there were assault pistols in the 1980s.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
Broomstick wrote: ↑2023-01-23 08:03pm
I keep hearing the TV news say he had an "assault pistol". WTF is an "assault pistol"? I have never heard that term before this particular mass shooting.
Before there were assault weapons, there were assault pistols in the 1980s.
Well, he'd be old enough to have bought one back then.
But IMHO one stupid media person called it that, and the term just got repeated by all the other AP news. I'm betting the weapon was not an "assault" anything.
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
LadyTevar wrote: ↑2023-01-23 08:30pmBut IMHO one stupid media person called it that, and the term just got repeated by all the other AP news. I'm betting the weapon was not an "assault" anything.
Seems there's multiple crime scenes and multiple weapons.
First Scene: Star Ballroom Dance Studio -- MAC 10, 42 rounds fired.
Second Scene: Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio some 17 minutes later -- someone wrestles away the MAC-10 from him.
Third Scene: Commits suicide inside white van with Norinco 7.62 x 25mm handgun.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
LadyTevar wrote: ↑2023-01-23 08:30pmBut IMHO one stupid media person called it that, and the term just got repeated by all the other AP news. I'm betting the weapon was not an "assault" anything.
Seems there's multiple crime scenes and multiple weapons.
First Scene: Star Ballroom Dance Studio -- MAC 10, 42 rounds fired.
Second Scene: Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio some 17 minutes later -- someone wrestles away the MAC-10 from him.
Third Scene: Commits suicide inside white van with Norinco 7.62 x 25mm handgun.
They got a lot more information than I'd seen released up til now.
Assuming it's correctly attributed, then I assume he had the MAC from a much earlier purchase.
Some of this is fitting together, assuming his ex-wife really was at the Star Ballroom. Still does not explain hitting the Lai Lai.
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Never heard the term 'assault pistol' before either. The M10/M11 are submachine guns.
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
I did a little more Google researching. Apparently there are some traits of the MAC pistol that fall under California's assault weapons laws. Not entirely clear on it, but one factor are the large capacity magazines and another is a threaded barrel. The weapon used has been described as "semi-automatic" so presumably it wasn't on full-auto or perhaps not capable of that. I'm working with third-hand information at best.
It illustrates one of the problems with guns in the US - there are so damn many of them that obtaining one that has been declared illegal somewhere isn't that difficult for someone intent on mayhem.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
The term could also be referring to one of those weird oversized pistols that are basically an AR-15 receiver with an eight-inch barrel and no stock, like some sort of post-modern "mare's leg". If there is a point to doing that besides rules-lawyering around local restrictions on military-style firearms then I couldn't tell you what it is, but they were a thing you could buy at one point.
There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)
Replace "ginger" with "n*gger," and suddenly it become a lot less funny, doesn't it?
-- fgalkin
Submachine guns have also been historically called machine pistols, right? Laypeople can mix up terminology. Like how in the Philippines everything is an Armalite lol (well actually just M-16 derivatives).
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source) shroom is a lovely boy and i wont hear a bad word against him - LUSY-CHAN! Shit! Man, I didn't think of that! It took Shroom to properly interpret the screams of dying people - PeZook Shroom, I read out the stuff you write about us. You are an endless supply of morale down here. :p - an OWS street medic Pink Sugar Heart Attack!
A machine pistol, as I understand gun terminology, is a fully automatic pistol. Which, apparently, was a thing at one time although the way they go through ammo they aren't really practical. A MAC is semi-auto, or is supposed to be if it's sold in the US to the average person. There probably is a full-auto version, or the potential for it, but there's a shit-ton of paperwork for a civilian to have a full-auto anything, and lots of fees (I've heard it all starts around $50,000 and goes up from there).
The news is describing it as "semi-auto" when the talking heads are making any sense at all, so presumably it's a semi-auto fucking-ugly oversized handgun with a 30 round clip and a threaded barrel, the latter two being the traits that make it an "assault weapon" under California law, which may or may not be applicable anywhere outside of California.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Not since the late 1980s and early 1990s has there been such a wide selection of assault pistols available for sale in the United States. During that period, UZI pistols, MAC-10s, and TEC-9s were the prominent assault pistols seen on television and movie screens as well as displayed on gun store counters.
Today, more assault pistol makes and models are available than ever before for civilian sale in the United States. They range from models that were named under the now-expired federal assault weapons ban (such as the UZI pistol, MAC-10, and Calico) to newer models such as the aforementioned AK-47 and AR-15 pistols.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
There are full-auto pistols that fit in one hand [two's always better, but you can do it] but will empty the entire magazine if you hold down the trigger. I have shot one; some of my friends collect weapons (including some CRAZY WWII shit) and I don't want to enable the nutfucks, but you all have Google.
"Do I really look like a guy with a plan? Y'know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! Y'know, I just do things..." --The Joker
ETA: The gun guys are some of the nicest people I know. They would never point one at another human except in self-defense. But they've got an arsenal you could start WWIII with, and it can be some fun out in the desert with non-living targets. I would never hunt a four-legged animal for sport. I don't believe in it. But just squeezing a few rounds at paper with the guys can be entertaining and I like to keep my skills up.
"Do I really look like a guy with a plan? Y'know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! Y'know, I just do things..." --The Joker
A machine gun will empty the entire belt if you hold down the trigger (until the first stoppage of course), that's the way automatic weapons are supposed to WORK. I knew about automatic pistols, they're a rather niche weapon with very limited utility, I just can't recall them ever being called 'assault pistols' (but then I don't live in the US).
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
Apparently, some of us who have lived in the US all our lives have never heard of "assault pistols" either. It seems to be a California turn of phrase.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Broomstick wrote: ↑2023-01-27 04:28am
Apparently, some of us who have lived in the US all our lives have never heard of "assault pistols" either. It seems to be a California turn of phrase.
I always heard of an Uzi or Mac-10 as a "submachine gun". Otherwise, they were called by Name (Uzi, Mac10)
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
MAC-10/11, CZ scorpion, and similar things fall under the monicer "PDW" - personal defense weapon - "(more) compact (than a SMG)" handguns supposed to be full auto, in order to dump your mag into an attacker (and completely disregard the safety of any bystander in order to save yourself). Works like designed in the military context, but if sold as civilian gun, it falls waaaaay out of the "reasonable" bracket.
They get some rep as animal defense weapons - like a charging animal - dump the mag into it, easier to hit with more rounds than a semi.
Now - for mechanical reasons, ALL non-revolver type of pistols are automatic weapons.
It needs an additional mechanical feature - an interruptor - to make them semi-automatic. All it needs is some wear and tear (or some human intervention), and your semiauto will mag-dump as long as you hold the trigger pulled. Of course, not explicitely tuned for continued fire, you will most likely run into a failure to eject and stovepipe pretty soon, but it is possible to fiddle with the springs and stuff and get a reasonable rof that is sustainable. (Such "runoff" guns will have cycling rates of over 1000, sometimes up to 2000, while a "reasonable SMG/MG would have 6-800 max)
These PDW are runoff- type automatic pistols that were designed to magdump without jamming up, and guns like that are even easier to convert "back" to auto, since the "semi" is only an afterthought added for a civilian sale after military contracts are bottomed out. That's why most of them fall unter the AWB.
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay
"
- PeZook
