California shooting: Suspect killed himself after being surrounded, say police

The gunman who killed 10 people and injured as many at a ballroom dance studio in California’s Monterey Park on Saturday, shot himself on Sunday after being surrounded by law enforcement officers, police said. He is said to be a 72-year-old Asian man.

Stating that police had surrounded the van which was occupied by the suspect on Sunday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters that officers heard a gunshot from within the vehicle when they approached it.

“The suspect sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene,” Luna said.

On Sunday afternoon law enforcement officials swarmed and entered a white van that they suspect was driven by the assailant. Earlier, police released photos of the suspect while launching a search to nab him.

Also read: 10 killed in a shooting near Los Angeles amid Chinese New Year festivities

Releasing a photograph of the “homicide suspect,” LA County Sheriff’s department said he is an “Asian male” wearing a black leather jacket, beanie and glasses, while warning that he is “armed and dangerous.”

Later, police surrounded the van with tactical vehicles and bomb squad trucks for hours before going in.

A person’s body appeared to be slumped over the wheel, but authorities did not immediately identify the person in the van.

The manhunt came after a gunman killed 10 people at a ballroom dance studio late on Saturday amid Lunar New Year’s celebrations in the predominantly Asian American community of Monterey Park. He likely tried and failed to target a second dance hall, authorities said.

The van was found in Torrance, another community home to many Asian Americans, about 34.5 km from that second location. The shooting sent a wave of fear through Asian American communities in the Los Angeles area and cast a shadow over Lunar New Year festivities around the country. Other cities sent extra officers to watch over the celebrations.

Luna said the shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park left five women and five men dead and wounded 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.

They offered no details about a possible motive. The suspect entered the Alhambra club with a gun, and people wrested the weapon away from him before he fled, Luna said. Hours earlier, 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. We don’t know their condition, but were going to handle that in safest manner that we possibly can and try and identify that person. Could it be our suspect? Possibly,” Luna said.

In response to a question, Luna said it was possible that the person barricaded in van was 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. Authorities said Sunday they know the suspect’s name but declined to release it because it could complicate their ability to apprehend him. But they did release a photo showing an Asian man wearing glasses and a winter hat. 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.

The massacre was the nation’s fifth mass killing this month. It was also the deadliest attack since May 24, when 21 people were killed in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people on the eastern edge of Los Angeles and is composed mostly of Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans. The shooting happened in the heart of its downtown where red lanterns decorated the streets for the Lunar New Year festivities. A police car was parked near a large banner that proclaimed Happy Year of the Rabbit! The celebration in Monterey Park is one of California’s largest. Two days of festivities, which have been attended by as many as 100,000 people in past years, were planned. But officials cancelled Sunday’s events following the shooting.

(With inputs from agencies)