Monterey Park shooter fired off 42 rounds during dance club massacre
Chilling new details emerged Monday in California’s ballroom massacre, including how the killer fired at least 42 times and had a stash of “hundreds of rounds’’ of more ammo at his home, authorities said.
The mass shooter, identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, was armed with a 9mm caliber, semi-automatic Mac-10 assault weapon when he stormed into Star Ballroom Dance Studio and sprayed bullets into the crowded hall at a Lunar New Year celebration Saturday night.
Law enforcement officials, in a Monday afternoon press conference, were mum about a possible motive in the slaughter that left 11 dead, insisting they don’t have anything solid yet but are continuing to investigate leads.
Asked whether the gunman knew his victims, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna replied, “We’re hearing there were possible relationships there, but I’m not going to confirm that yet because that’s part of everything we’re looking at.”
A police source previously told LA Magazine that the mass shooter was hunting for his wife at the time of the bloodbath in a possible jealous fit of rage.
Luna said his office had also heard that theory and are investigating, but weren’t able to confirm during the latest news conference in the case.
In the meantime, investigators searched the Hemet home of the killer Sunday night and found evidence that he was apparently making “firearm suppressors” inside his trailer home.
They also recovered a 308-caliber rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and numerous electronics including cell phones and computers from Tran’s home, Luna said.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Earlier Sunday, the suspect shot and killed himself in his cargo van after he was approached by police officers in Torrance, Calif. Officers recovered a Norinco 7.6 X 2 handgun from inside the van.
Tran had been previously arrested in 1990 for illegal weapons possession, but otherwise had a “limited criminal history,” Luna said.
Ten victims were pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting and an 11th died of her injuries in the hospital Monday.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Tran went to a second location after gunning down those victims with the intent to kill more, police officials said.
He stormed into another ballroom, Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio, nearby but was disarmed by a brave bystander, 26-year-old Brandon Tsay — preventing any further bloodshed.
Tsay — who’d never before seen a gun — said it was immediately clear that the gunman “wasn’t here to rob us.”
Read the full article Here
