All right.
If you're
just joining us,
we are following the breaking news
out of California in Torrance,
near Los Angeles.
A dramatic standoff
is now over after
police moved in on to White Vans
that were near each other.
The vans fit a description
of a vehicle of interest in connection
with last night's deadly mass shooting
at a dance studio in Monterey Park.
It is still unclear what,
if anything, police found
inside the two vans,
but you can see the officers
making their way into the vehicle.
One of the vehicles,
the one vehicle of interest
where there appears to be a suspect
or maybe a suspect dead inside
on the driver's side of that vehicle.
In the meantime, the L.A.
County Sheriff's
Department, Special Enforcement
Bureau tweeted that their SWAT operation
for an armed suspect
in Torrance has concluded
neighborhoods safe.
The tweet goes on to say,
and this is the suspect
that police are looking for.
They believe he is responsible
for shooting
and killing ten people and injuring
at least ten others.
In Monterey Park,
the victims were gathered
at a dance studio
located in a predominantly
Asian-American community
to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
And I want to bring in
Jonathan Wackrow, CNN
law enforcement
analyst and CNN senior
law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey.
You both gentlemen back with us.
Thanks so much.
Jonathan, what's the
next phase of this investigation?
I assume that's finding a motive and
does it does
it stand to reason that
the other situation
that unfolded last night
after the mass shooting,
the one in Alhambra
where people apparently rustled a firearm
away from
somebody described as an Asian man.
It does seem as though all of
this is connected
at this moment.
Yeah, absolutely, Jim.
So right now,
what we're really seeing
in terms
of the arc of this investigation
is we're entering into a new phase,
the the tactical element,
the the imminent threat
seems to have been resolved.
We don't have final confirmation on that,
but we are starting to see
the communication
come out from law enforcement
that you know, the armed suspect has been
mitigated,
that threat has been mitigated,
and that the community is safe.
You know,
I would like to see a lot more of that.
I'd like to see a lot more of that
through different channels.
And actually different languages,
really to reassure the public.
But, you know,
we're starting to see that.
And what
the phase that we're moving into
is the investigative phase.
And it's tying in together,
trying to understand the motive
of this attacker.
Why was this location chosen?
You know, was this, you know,
this targeted act of violence?
Was it in some response
to some sort of grievance
with an individual?
You know, what
what were the factors
that that led this individual
to commit this crime at that location?
And the secondary site? Right.
So is this something
that they went into that
first location, didn't
see the target
that they were looking for
and then moved on to the next location?
Again,
All of that is going to be part
of the investigative process.
And what they're going to do in
that investigative process
is it
will once they identify positively
who this
individual is,
they're going to start
looking at friends,
family,
interviewing them, trying to understand,
you know, was there something, you know,
what was the motivation behind this act?
They'll look at all of the digital trace
evidence that they possibly can.
Did this person
belong to some sort of group?
Did he telegraph
any type of of grievance or concern
that would have led to this act again?
This is that next
phase of the investigations
that things
are going to slow down a little bit.
They're going to be more methodical.
We saw the tactical elements
occurring again.
We're not more than 24 hours
from the incident.
So this is where investigators are
are going to start
taking items
of evidentiary value
from the crime scene,
piecing it together with other elements.
Again, to try to answer that
the question why
exactly?
And Chief Ramsey
let me turn to you next,
because one of the questions
that a lot of folks
are going to have in the hours
and days to come is,
you know, what led to this mass shooting
that occurred last night.
We just don't have
very much clarity
in terms of that information.
You were saying earlier this afternoon
it's perfectly understandable
why all the why the L.A.
County sheriff
was keeping his cards close to the vest.
But don't you think
as the hours go on this evening
that this community is going to need
some more information about what is going
on, in particular, whether or not
this person
is going to be positively identified
as the suspect in the Monterey
Park shooting?
The person who is slumped over the wheel.
We were
believably believed
to be slumped over
the wheel of that white cargo van
there in Torrance.
Yeah, I think the next
press conference,
you'll get a lot more information
that you had than you got before.
In fact,
if this is, in fact,
the person who is the suspect,
then there's no question
that there'll be a lot more information.
But that doesn't mean
you'll have a motive yet.
I mean, that's part
of what they're doing now
in this phase of the investigation.
They search
that van is the avenue writings in there
when they interview family, friends,
you know,
was there
some kind of beef or issue that he had
moving forward
for whatever reason
that would lead him to do something
like this? Does he.
Does he have a social media footprint?
He's an older guy.
Maybe he doesn't really use social media.
I don't know.
But that's part of the investigation now
to try to find out the why, you know,
why would someone do something like this?
Is there a connection to the
Lunar New Year
or is this something
that totally separate from that
that caused them
to take that particular action?
So I think we'll find out
more at the next press conference.
Don't be disappointed
if they have not yet
zeroed in on a motive again.
You know, the police cannot speculate.
I mean, we can do it.
Media can do it.
Those like John and I, we can speculate
and so forth.
But when you're running an investigation,
it's based on fact.
And until you have those facts
then you shouldn't
be putting out any information
that is not 100% accurate. So,
you know,
I'm optimistic that we'll find out more.
But how much more I don't know.
Right.
And, Jonathan, I mean,
even when the sheriff was asked,
you know, is this a suspect
or I think he maybe even just volunteered
that you know, is this a suspect?
Possibly, I think is
is the way he described it
earlier this afternoon.
So he
he has been
Sheriff
Loon has been keeping this very close
best.
Yeah.
Listen, you know, if he said yes,
guess what?
There's 500 follow up questions to that.
Right. So, you know, I understand that.
You know, that
law enforcement is trying to,
you know,
keep this very compartmentalized
and only release the facts.
As Chief Ramsey said, they have it right
because it
also this is
this is an ongoing investigation.
We still don't know.
Some big questions around
how were these weapons obtained,
how many weapons are there?
Are there any
is there anybody else involved in this?
So those things are still not answered.
And again,
if we if law enforcement
speculates in any in any way,
it could
really jeopardize
the totality of the
of the of the investigation.
So we'll wait to hear what
they see in the next
the next briefing.
But, again,
it's going to be all factor of it.
And and she frames
waiting for the sheriff's department
to put out a tweet
that says the standoff is over,
the neighborhood is safe.
I mean, that is a very clear
indication that,
you know, there
and there's a tweet right there.
We have it up on screen right there.
The operation for an armed suspect
in Torrance has concluded.
Neighborhood safe
I guess that doesn't tell us everything,
but they're not going to willy
nilly put out a tweet like that
in a cavalier fashion
unless they are absolutely certain
that they have the situation
at least in hand, their interests.
Well, I mean, that's what I would think.
But I mean, you're talking about
Torrance again,
as 30 miles away from where the actual
mass shooting took place.
Obviously, the community in Torrance,
once they see SWAT vehicles
zeroing in on a van and so forth.
You know, there's a lot of concern.
So they want to
let those folks know that,
you know,
that particular situation
has been resolved.
Now, it doesn't go
far enough to say that it's also,
you know, resolved the Monterey Park
mass shooting.
But I think one could assume that
since they put that out,
that they're pretty comfortable
at this point in time,
even though they're not 100% verified yet
that this is an individual
that they were looking for initially.
But again,
that's me speculating that that's it.
We'll find out more when Sheriff Luna,
as his next press conference
and hopefully he can answer
that particular question.