UPDATES
I believe his ex may be flirting with other guys at the club??
A motive behind the attack is still not clear. Tran frequently visited the dance studio and met his ex-wife there two decades ago, several close acquaintances have reportedly said. Tran used to give informal lessons at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, his ex-wife, who did not want to be identified, told CNN. The two met for the first time at the popular community center two decades ago and got married. While she said the 72-year-old was never violent to her, she added that he could be quick to anger.
The couple got divorced in 2005.
Another long-time acquaintance was quoted by CNN saying that the gunman used to be a frequent presence at the dance studio. It, however, isn’t clear when was the last time he visited. California Representative Judy Chu said residents were “no longer in danger”.
“The community was in fear thinking that they should not go to any events because there was an active shooter,” she said.
“You are no longer in danger.”
“What was the motive for this shooter?” she said. “Did he have a mental illness? Was he a domestic violence abuser? How did he get these guns and was it through legal means or not?”
What we know about the shooting
On Saturday night, approximately seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles, visitors gathered to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The two-day festival draws tens of thousands, making it one of the largest celebrations of its kind in the region, according to the paper.
Around 10.22pm, a man entered the dance club and began shooting. Police do not know if he was targeting individuals, firing indiscriminately, or both.
Seung Won Choi, the owner a seafood restaurant across the street from the ballroom, told the Los Angeles Times that party attendees fled the building and ran into his business, warning him to close and lock his doors.
Police arrived at the scene and found that the partygoers were already fighting to escape the building.
“When officers arrived on scene, they observed numerous individuals, patrons… pouring out of the location, screaming,” officials told reporters Sunday. “The officers made entry to the location and located additional victims.”
According to Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese, officers arrived at the scene within three minutes of receiving a distress call.
They found extensive carnage inside and people trying to flee through all the doors.
Mr Luna said that around 20-30 minutes after the first attack, the gunman entered the Lai Lai Ballroom in nearby Alhambra.
He fled after people wrested the weapon away from him.
Officers were seen clearing the Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio in Alhambra around the same time that law enforcement was responding to the mass shooting in Monterey Park on early Sunday.
“A male Asian suspect walked into a dance hall with a firearm and some individuals wrestled the firearm away from him and that individual took off,” Mr Luna said.
He added that earlier teams were looking for a white van after witnesses reported seeing the gunman flee from Alhambra in such a vehicle.