Lhe suspect in the killings that killed 10 people Saturday night in a Californian dance hall was found dead after committing suicide in a white van after a chase with the police, the local sheriff announced on Sunday.
“The suspect sustained gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene,” said Sheriff Robert Luna, who described a manhunt that ended with a shot fired from inside the white pickup truck. the man, who therefore apparently committed suicide.
The latter, of Asian origin and 72 years old, was identified as Huu Can Tran. He was the only suspect in the shooting, Luna said, adding that the motive for the attack in Monterey Park on Lunar New Year’s Day was not yet known and an investigation was ongoing.
The hunt for the alleged shooter, covered live by several media, ended just over 40 km from the city where the tragedy took place, the police surrounding the suspect’s vehicle.
Police then approached with great caution and entered. On images from AFP, we see a lifeless body in front.
In the wake of the latest police announcements, United States President Joe Biden has ordered flags adorning public buildings to be lowered to half-mast.
Tracking
Responding to the first emergency calls on Saturday at 10:20 p.m. (6:20 a.m. GMT Sunday), the police found 10 dead people in the dance hall, five women and five men. At least 10 other injured people were later hospitalized in “stable to critical” condition.
According to CCTV footage, the shooter was an Asian male wearing a beanie and wearing glasses.
On Sunday, in front of the police cordon in Monterey Park, many residents filmed the scene with their smartphones, while traders dismantled the Chinese New Year market after the cancellation of the festivities.
Shocked and in disbelief, many still found it hard to believe that such a massacre could have taken place in this predominantly Asian suburb, renowned for its tranquility.
Prayers
Lakers jersey on the back, David Kwan had heard the news in the morning. “It’s sad,” sighed this security guard of Malaysian origin, still amazed. “I often face violence but elsewhere in Los Angeles. This is the first time I’ve seen it in my own community.”
Investigators were also checking information about a possible link to an attempted shooting the same evening at another dance hall in nearby Alhambra.
“A suspect of Asian origin entered the dance hall with a weapon that was snatched from his hands before he fled,” Sheriff Robert Luna first said.
The weapon found is not an assault rifle, he said on Sunday but “a semi-automatic assault pistol with magazine (…) to which was attached a long-lasting high-capacity magazine”.
Loaded with ammunition
On Saturday evening, tens of thousands of people had just gathered near the scene of the shooting in Monterey Park for the Lunar New Year festivities.
According to the owner of a nearby restaurant quoted by the Los Angeles Times, three people ran into his establishment at the time of the shooting and asked him to lock the door.
These three people said that there was a man with a semi-automatic rifle and loaded with ammunition, Seung Won Choi told the newspaper.
The United States pays a very heavy price for the dissemination of firearms on its territory and the ease with which Americans have access to them.
That same Saturday evening, 12 people were injured by bullets in a nightclub in Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, a new illustration that no place in American daily life seems immune.
Around 49,000 people died from gunshots in 2021 in the United States, compared to 45,000 in 2020, which was already a record year. This represents more than 130 deaths per day, more than half of which are suicides.
23/01/2023 03:31:56 – Monterey Park (United States) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP