Monterey mass shooter may have gone to the hospital after fatally shooting 10 people during Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.
Local hospital staff reported a man fitting Huu Can Tran’s description inside the emergency room for injuries potentially received from a fight, police told CNN.
Tran, 72, was identified as the gunman who shot several people in a ballroom dance studio late Saturday amid celebrations in the predominantly Asian American community.
Hospital workers said the man sat in the waiting room before leaving without treatment. He was identified by staff through wanted photos posted sheriff’s department’s Twitter account.
The shooting that occurred 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, the gunman entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in nearby Alhambra where brave patrons fought him off and took the gun.
Tran then fled the scene and was at large until Sunday when police found him in the van he used to flee the massacre.
Huu Can Tran, 72, may have went to the hospital after killing 10 people on Sunday. Hospital workers said he appeared to have suffered wounds from a fight. A photo of the man was released earlier
Police release photo of the suspect in the Monterey Park Chinese Lunar New Year massacre
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna identified Tran as the suspect on Sunday and confirmed his motive is unknown.
‘He intended to kill more people,’ Luna said in a news conference on Sunday night. ‘They saved lives,’ he said of the patrons. ‘This could’ve been much worse.’
The exact ages of the victims were not released, but Luna they all appeared to be over 50. Seven of the wounded people remained in the hospital, he said.
Tran was carrying what was described as a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and a second handgun was discovered in the van where he was found dead, Luna added.
Earlier Sunday, law enforcement officials swarmed and entered the van after surrounding it for hours. They heard a gunshot and approached the van to find Tran’s body slumped over the steering wheel.
Tran was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the van he used to flee after his attempt at a second shooting that was thwarted by ‘hero’ patrons
A law enforcement official walks past a body slumped over in the driver’s seat of a van in Torrance, California, on Sunday after a standoff with police
Aerial footage shows officials pulling unknown items from the white van after the standoff
A number of incidents took place over a wide portion of the Los Angeles area on Sunday all believed to have been perpetrated by the same suspect
Tran was carrying what was described as a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and a second handgun was discovered in the van where he was found dead, officials said
Horrifying pictures on Saturday showed victims being stretched from the scene before being rushed to hospital as cops and ambulances swarmed the area.
Cops said throngs of terrified festivalgoers streamed out of the area ‘screaming’ as bullets continued to fly.
‘Remember, the suspect went to the Alhambra location after he conducted the shooting and he was disarmed by two community members who I consider to be heroes,’ Luna said on Sunday.
He added: ‘They saved lives. This could’ve been much worse. The weapon that we recovered at that second scene I am describing as a magazine-fed semiautomatic assault pistol. Not an assault rifle, but an assault pistol that had an extended large capacity magazine attached to it.’
Hours earlier, Luna said authorities were looking for a white van after witnesses reported seeing the suspect flee from Alhambra in such a vehicle.
The shooting and manhunt 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.
Multiple casualties were reported after the shooting in California during New Year celebrations
The first shooting happened on the 100 block of West Garvey Avenue, which is where the Star ballroom dance studio is based (pictured)
A second shooting, which cops were probing if it was related, happened at nearby Lai Lai Ballroom in Alhambra (pictured)
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 canceled Sunday’s events following the shooting.
