Monterey Park shooting happened 1 year ago
It’s been one year since a gunman walked into the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park and shot and killed 11 people. There will be a vigil at the Monterey Park City Hall to commemorate the anniversary of the tragedy.
LOS ANGELES – On the one-year anniversary of the Monterey Park mass shooting that claimed the lives of 11 people, the city on Sunday will hold a candlelight vigil to remember the victims amid continued calls for stricter gun laws.
The vigil and night of remembrance will be held at Monterey Park City Hall at 6 p.m.. Additionally, city officials noted that a private, invite-only Roundtable on Hope and Healing will take place earlier in the day, at which community leaders and advocates will discuss and formulate strategies to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Eleven people were killed in the Jan. 21, 2023 mass shooting at the Star Dance Studio during a Lunar New Year celebration. The suspected gunman, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran of Hemet, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a SWAT scene in Torrance.
It remains the worst mass shooting in Los Angeles County since a disgruntled ex-husband killed 10 people in Covina in 2008.
Commemorating the Monterey Park shooting 6 months later
Monterey Park Mayor Pro Tem Thomas Wong, Sheriff Robert Luna and relatives of victims were set to gather outside the Star Dance Studio to mark six months since the mass shooting that left 11 people dead.
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Three days later, President Joe Biden visited Monterey Park – a community that is majority Asian American and is considered the first suburban Chinatown in the nation. During that visit, Biden announced executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence.
Remembering the victims of the Monterey Park shooting
All eleven people killed in the Monterey Park mass shooting have been identified. Community members, friends and the city is now honoring and remembering the lives lost.
Biden made reference to the Jan. 21 mass shooting in his State of the Union address on Feb. 7, calling for a ban on assault weapons and saluting Brandon Tsay, who wrestled a gun away from the shooter and likely prevented a second tragedy from occurring in nearby Alhambra.
“I just had this rush of thought and adrenaline. I was able to come to the conclusion that I needed to do something, I needed to grab the gun. I needed to save myself and people inside,” Tsay said.
In September, Biden created the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, led by Vice President Kamala Harris, to coordinate nationwide efforts to prevent gun violence. At the time, Biden renewed a call to Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to adopt a safe storage law and to implement universal background checks.
Following the shooting, City Council unanimously approved legislation to drastically limit where gun dealers are permitted in Monterey Park.
Additionally, officials have taken steps to limit firearms in Los Angeles County’s unincorporated areas.
New details emerge about Monterey Park shooting suspect
Investigators are still looking into a motive for the deadly mass shooting at a Monterey Park dance studio, but so far Sheriff Luna said he has found no ties between the gunman and the victims.
In October, the supervisors approved an ordinance mandating that gun stores have security cameras, maintain new sales and inventory reports, and deny entry to unaccompanied minors, among other requirements.
In 2023, there were 42 mass shootings in the U.S. in which four or more people were killed, including four in California, according to a database compiled by USA Today, The Associated Press and Northeastern University. In California alone last year, 28 people were killed and 10 injured in mass shootings.
City News Service contributed to this report.