US: 10 killed in mass shooting in California during Chinese New Year's Eve gathering

The shooting took place at about 22:20 local time at a ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park on Saturday night, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said, reported Los Angeles Times.

The shooter fled and remains outstanding, the sheriff's department said.

According to CNN, shortly after the attack, a group of people disarmed a gunman who showed up at a studio in neighboring Alhambra. Officials are still investigating whether the two incidents are linked, it said.

Firefighters pronounced 10 of the victims dead at the scene, sheriff’s capt. Andrew Meyer told Los Angeles Times.

"At least 10 others were taken to numerous local hospitals, and their conditions range from stable to critical."

Meyer said investigators don’t know whether the victims were targeted. He said it was too early to know whether the shooting was a hate crime. “We will look at every angle,” he said.

It's still too soon to rule out hate crime as a possible motive for the deadly Monterey Park, California, mass shooting, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said, according to CNN.

Seung Won Choi, who owns a seafood barbecue restaurant on Garvey Avenue across from where the shooting happened, told Los Angeles Times that 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 on him, so that once his ammunition ran out he reloaded, Choi said.

PRESS RELEASE UPDATE BY LASD

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide investigators are continuing their investigation into the circumstances regarding a mass shooting in the city of Monterey Park.

On Saturday, January 21, 2023, at approximately 10:22 pm, officers from the Monterey Park Police Department responded to a business in the 100 block of West Garvey Avenue in the city of Monterey Park regarding a shots fired call. 

When officers arrived at the location, they observed numerous victims and patrons in the parking lot of the business. Additional officers made entry into the business and located numerous gunshot victims.  Monterey Park Fire Department responded to the scene and treated the injured.  They pronounced ten of the victims deceased at the scene.

There were at least ten additional victims transported to numerous local hospitals. They are listed in various conditions from stable to critical.

The suspect fled the scene and remains outstanding.

LASD Homicide is working closely with the Monterey Park Police Department, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the FBI Los Angeles Field Office and numerous other law enforcement agencies.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.  Or if you prefer to remain anonymous you can call crime stoppers at 800-222-8477.