Motive remains a mystery after suspected gunman in Lunar New Year mass shooting found dead

A deadly mass shooting inside a Monterey Park dance studio led authorities to Torrance on Sunday, where the suspected gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a strip mall parking lot, law enforcement sources said.

The manhunt began after the shooter opened fire inside Star Dance Studio on West Garvey Avenue around 10:20 p.m. Saturday, killing 10 people and injuring 10 others. It was Lunar New Year’s Eve.

Officials were also investigating an incident at another dance studio that may be related to the massacre, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

About 20 minutes after the shooting in Monterey Park, an armed suspect walked into Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio in nearby Alhambra, but “some individuals wrestled the firearm from him, and that individual took off,” Luna said.

Authorities have yet to reveal a possible motive for the shooting, including whether it was a possible hate crime or domestic violence incident.

“Everything is on the table,” Luna said. “Who walks into a dance hall and guns down 20 people?”

An advisory from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department identified the suspect as an adult Asian man, about 5 foot, 10 inches and weighing 150 pounds. An image showed the man in a black leather jacket, beanie and glasses. Witnesses also described a white cargo van that was linked to the shooting.

Around 10 a.m. Sunday, Torrance police officers attempted to stop a vehicle near Hawthorne and Sepulveda boulevards that matched the sheriff’s description, a law enforcement source told The Times. The driver shot himself before officers could approach, the source said.

Images and aerial footage of the scene showed what appeared to be two bullet holes in the drivers-side window of the van and the driver slumped over the steering wheel. A SWAT team swarmed the vehicle around 1 p.m.

“I don’t think anybody that woke up today, myself included, thought it would end up here in Torrance,” L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said.

What to know about mass shootings FAQ How do we define a mass shooting? Mass shootings are defined as a shooting with four or more people killed — not including the shooter — in a public location with firearms, as defined by the Congressional Research Service . Are mass shootings related to mental illness? Most people who have and live with a mental illness are nonviolent . Most shooters experienced early childhood trauma and exposure to violence at a young age, and most shooters have studied the actions of other shooters and sought validation for their motives. According to the Violence Project — a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center dedicated to reducing violence in society — the role of serious mental illness in mass shootings is complex . The project reports that more than 80% of mass shooters were in a notable crisis prior to the shooting. Psychosis played no role for nearly 70% of mass shooters, according to the report.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional and call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-TALK (8255). Text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the Crisis Text Line . Are mass shootings becoming more deadly and more common? Yes, mass shootings have been getting more deadly over the decades. James Densley and Jillian Peterson, who run the Violence Project and have studied every public mass shooting since 1966, write that more than half of the shootings have occurred since 2000 and 33% since 2010. They write that for decades, the toll of mass shootings has risen steadily. During the 1970s, mass shootings claimed an average of 5.7 lives per year. In 2019, the average figure was 51 deaths per year . In 2020, mass shootings were far less frequent during the COVID-19 pandemic, as schools, offices and churches shut down. Now they’re ticking back up.

What is the contagion effect? Most shooters have studied the actions of other shooters and want validation for their motives, according to James Densley and Jillian Peterson of the Violence Project . That’s why mass shootings can come in clusters and can be socially contagious, a phenomenon called the contagion effect. Research also shows how media reports on mass shootings can play a role in the contagion effect or copycat incidents, according to Dr. Dan Reidenberg from Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) at a Poynter seminar on mass shootings. Responsible and helpful reporting can inform and educate the public and possibly reduce the risk of violence, according to the seminar. How can you talk to your child about mass shootings? Check in with your child and talk to them about their concerns. Reassure them that they are safe (which is good advice for all trauma survivors). Tailor conversations and topics to what’s appropriate for your child’s age. Limit their exposure to media coverage of shootings. Maintain routines and model healthy behavior as parents. Have a plan with your children in case of an emergency. Also, watch for changes in their behavior, sleep, mood and appetite. Every child responds to trauma differently and can show signs of stress at different times, according to the American Psychological Assn. SHOW MORE SHOW LESS

The mass shooting, one of California’s worst in recent memory, has left Angelenos — and the nation — struggling to make sense of the violence.

Wong Wei, who lives near the scene of the shooting, had four friends who were at Star Dance Studio on Saturday night, including his sister. He had been invited to go but decided not to. Wei said one of his friends was injured in the shooting and was lying on the ground with blood on her face.

The gunman was holding a “long” gun and appeared to be firing indiscriminately, Wei was told. The “boss” of the studio, referred to as Ma, had also been shot and was on the floor.

“She said, ‘Certainly, he was dead. He wasn’t moving,’ ” Wei said. He wasn’t sure about the condition of his friend or whether she had been hospitalized.

Seung Won Choi, who owns a seafood barbecue restaurant on Garvey Avenue across from where the shooting happened, said three people rushed into his restaurant and told him to lock the door.

They said there was a man with a semiautomatic gun in the area. The shooter, they said, had multiple rounds of ammunition, so that once his bullets ran out he reloaded, Choi said.

The shooting occurred near where tens of thousands had gathered Saturday for the start of a two-day Lunar New Year festival, one of the largest holiday events in the region.

Earlier in the day, crowds were enjoying skewers and shopping for Chinese food and jewelry. Saturday’s New Year festival hours were scheduled from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The festival had been scheduled to conclude Sunday, but the day’s events were canceled “out of an abundance of caution and in reverence for the victims,” Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said.

Winn Liaw, 57, said she lives about two blocks from the studio and was in bed shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday when she heard what sounded like firecrackers. She assumed they were part of a Lunar New Year celebration until she heard helicopters starting to circle her neighborhood.

She had woken early Sunday to check out the set up for the celebration that had been planned for later in the day when she learned about the shooting. Liaw said she is worried the shooting may have been motivated by anti-Chinese hate — a fear she said has been heightened by anti-Chinese rhetoric during the pandemic.

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen in my neighborhood,” she said, adding that she thought living in a mostly Asian community would insulate her from violence. “It’s starting to get worse and worse.”

Police at the scene of the shooting at Monterey Park on Saturday night. (Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

Another neighbor who wished to be identified only as John said he got home around 10 p.m. and heard four or five gunshots. Then he heard police cruisers and “smashing” down the street. He went downstairs around 11:20 p.m. to see whether the shooting had been at the festival.

“My first concern was I know they’re having a Lunar New Year celebration,” he said. But the 27-year-old said the festival had already been cleaned up for the day when he arrived. He then went to the scene of the shooting and saw one person being put on a stretcher. Another person had a bandage on their arm, he said.

The violence left many in the area stunned.

Edwin Chen, a 47-year-old delivery dispatcher, rushed over from Woodland Hills to Monterey Park around 12:30 a.m. after hearing the news. Chen said he grew up in the area, and about a dozen of his relatives and friends live there.

He said he was saddened this happened just as the community was celebrating Lunar New Year.

“This is [supposed to be] a happy time,” he said. “I want to find out as much as possible. It’s still shocking.”

“Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones tonight in our neighboring city, Monterey Park, where a mass shooting just occurred,” Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia, the first Asian American to hold citywide office in L.A., said on Twitter.

Monterey Park, a city of 61,000 in the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles, is 65% Asian American, 27% Latino and 6% white, according to census data.

One of the anchor suburbs in the San Gabriel Valley, Monterey Park is a hub of Asian American supermarkets and restaurants.

The Star Ballroom Dance Studio sits behind a Chinese herbal store along West Garvey Avenue. International ballroom competitors teach waltz, tango and Chinese dance classes every day. The dance studio, which opened 30 years ago, offers party room rentals and karaoke happy hour as well.

On Saturday night, the studio listed an event between 8 and 11:30 p.m. as “Star Night, $10.”

Dance instructor David DuVal taught at the studio, most recently samba and tango on Thursday morning.

He said that the studio has Saturday night parties and that a lot of people who attend are older. “Sixties would be young.”

“There’s definitely going to be people in their 70s, 80s, people in their 90s,” he said. “A lot of people I teach are older people. I have a feeling it could be one of them or people I know.”

DuVal said he learned what happened Saturday night over WeChat. He reached out to one of his students, who was there and hid under a table. His student said she saw a man with a “long firearm.” She doesn’t know what he looked like.

DuVal said there are couples who have been going there for a decade or more, many who are retired; some are in their 90s “and still dancing.”

“It’s old people dancing to music for fun. It’s their exercise,” he said.

Politics Harris declares ‘violence must stop’ after Monterey Park shooting Vice President Kamala Harris condemns ‘the tragedy of what happened in my home state’ after a Monterey Park shooting that left 10 people dead.

President Biden was briefed on the shooting Sunday morning.

“Jill and I are praying for those killed and injured in last night’s deadly mass shooting in Monterey Park,” Biden said in a tweet.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said her “heart goes out to Monterey Park and the families and friends of those lost.”

“The reports coming out of Monterey Park are absolutely devastating,” Bass said. “Families deserve to celebrate the holidays in peace — mass shootings and gun violence are a plague on our communities.”

The shooting is one of the worst in modern Los Angeles County history. One of the last mass shootings of this scale happened Christmas Eve in 2008, when a man dressed as Santa Claus entered a home in Covina, armed with five handguns. Nine people were killed in that rampage, including the gunman’s former wife and her parents. The gunman took his life hours later.

Other recent mass shootings in California include the massacre at a San Ysidro McDonald’s in 1984, where a gunman killed 21 people; and the terrorist attack that resulted in 14 deaths in San Bernardino in 2015.

In 2018, 12 people were killed during a mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks.

Saturday’s shooting comes five days after six people — including a 10-month old baby, his 16-year-old mother and a grandmother — were killed in the Central Valley farming community of Goshen in Tulare County.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) described the Lunar New Year as a time to celebrate with family.

“This tore a hole through all of our hearts,” she said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the L.A. County Sheriff’s homicide detectives at (323) 890-5500. Anonymous tips can be made by calling (800) 222-8477.

Times staff writers Ruben Vives and James Queally contributed to this report.