Sheriff: Gunman didn't know Monterey Park dance hall victims
CTV
The 72-year-old gunman who sprayed bullets into a Southern California ballroom dance hall, killing 11 people, had no known connection with the victims, the Los Angeles County sheriff said Wednesday.
The 72-year-old gunman who sprayed bullets into a Southern California ballroom dance hall, killing 11 people, had no known connection with the victims and investigators were still trying to determine a motive for the massacre, the Los Angeles County sheriff said.
Before the shooting Saturday night, Huu Can Tran parked a motorcycle just a block away from the ballroom in Monterey Park, which investigators believe he had planned to use as a backup getaway vehicle, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a news conference Wednesday hours after police seized the motorcycle.
Tran opened fire on a mostly elderly crowd of dancers at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, killing 11 people and wounding nine, police said.
The carnage, during what should have been joyful Lunar New Year celebrations, sent ripples of fear through Asian American communities already dealing with increased hatred and violence directed at them.
Some reports had said Tran frequented the dance hall and fancied himself as an instructor, but Luna said he hadn't been there in at least five years and did not appear to target the victims specifically.
"We have not been able to establish a connection between the suspect and any of the victims thus far," Luna said.
Luna said it wasn't clear how long Tran had been planning the attack in the city about eight miles (12.8 kilometres) from downtown Los Angeles or what prompted him to spray at least 42 bullets, taking time to reload his weapon, a variant of the MAC-10 semiautomatic machine pistol with a 30-round magazine.
