I feel this sense of great loss.
About the home that I always had,
it's just it's just gone.
I'll never be able to feel safe here again.
Right now this morning,
people living in Monterey Park are
trying to figure out why a gunman
would open fire inside a dance hall
as a group of mostly Asian Americans
celebrated the Lunar New Year.
Right now, flags at the White
House are at half staff.
In honor of those victims,
the 10 people killed in that shooting.
Thank you for joining us here.
I'm Neda Iran
point. And I'm Chris grow,
in for Eric Conner.
The nation saw its 33rd mass shooting of this
new year in Monterey Park Saturday night.
Now, this is a developing story,
but this is what we know.
Right now, 10 people were
killed and ten were injured.
The suspect is dead.
Police say that he took his own life.
A motive at this time is still not known
and CBS's Brian White has
been live at this scene.
He's joining us now from Monterey Park.
You've been there since yesterday, Brian.
What are the latest developments now?
Well, we're here, across the street
from the Star Dance studio here,
where this tragedy unfolded Saturday night,
while the crime scene tape has
been removed and the streets
have been opened back up.
That doesn't mean people here
are in Monterey Park or feeling
anything close to normalcy,
as the mood out here is overwhelming
sadness and grief for those who
lost their lives at the dance hall.
Really feel so sad.
You know, it's really want to make
me cry and I will feel horrible.
You know, a lot of things happened.
Crazy people. I don't know.
Investigators continue their work today
to determine what motivated the gunman
to open fire inside the dancehall,
a mass shooting that left five women and
five men dead while injuring ten others.
Authorities say all the victims were
middle-aged or older, selling hard.
Fung was at the Star Ballroom Dance
Studio when the shots rang out.
You will see the body already,
several lying there,
the LA County Sheriff said.
20 to 30 minutes later,
the suspect entered the Lilii
Ballroom about 3 miles away,
where two men wrestled the gun away from
the suspect before he fled in a white van.
That white van was eventually tracked
down in Torrance where police say
72 year old who can Tran took his
own life as a SWAT team moved in.
People have been leaving flowers and
candles outside the dancehall in honor
of those who lost their lives here.
You know, people need to talk about it.
I think mental health stuff
is so real and so difficult in
the Asian American Community,
Chinese community in particular,
to get there last night and
during the overnight hours,
a search warrant was served at
the suspects home in Hemet,
which is about 75 miles.
Away from here.
Again, outside the building is where
people have been placing bouquets of
flowers and candles to honor those victims.
The community will be holding a candlelight
vigil tonight at 7:00 o'clock outside
City Hall here in Monterey Park,
reporting live in Monterey Park.
Brian White for CBS8 back to you.
Thank you so much, Brian.
The devastation and pain being
felt in Monterey Park following
that shooting is also being
felt right here in San Diego
this morning. Council Member Kent Lee,
who's of District 6.
Is now weighing in.
He spoke with our own Dana
Marie Mcnichol this morning.
Dan Marie, what did you have to say?
Well, he shared with us,
in the wake of this tragedy,
it's really important to share
a sense of solidarity and
support in a Community sense.
He shared with us how this
tragedy in Monterey could really
affect people here in San Diego,
but especially ways where
we could show our help.
You know, on the eve of a major
holiday and following years of this
sort of uptick in anti Asian hate,
that is gonna create a lot
of nervousness, discomfort,
fear in some cases for folks of you know,
how this all might be tied together.
But it also I think is a good reminder
that the response typically that
we've seen from the Community that we
know will continue to be the case has
been one of resiliency and one of,
you know, recognizing that people
need to come together.
Now, Council member Kent Lee shared with
me that he's the 4th member in history of
the Council that is Asian American descent.
He says although he's only been in
office for a little over a month,
representing the areas of Kearny Mesa,
Mira Mesa, the Convoy District,
Graham right now, Scripps Ranch,
Sereno Valley, and University City.
He recognizes how important this time
is for those communities he serves,
pointing out the strong Asian
American influence here.
When the shooting first happened,
Lee was immediately in touch with the mayor,
chief Nisley.
And San Diego police, he says.
In general,
there was already law enforcement
present at many of the Lunar
New Year celebrations already,
but with the request of some organizers,
presence will be stepped up this weekend.
Here in San Diego,
the Lunar New Year is celebrated in
beautiful ways over the next month,
and now more than ever,
he expressed the importance of participating.
We've had celebrations this last weekend.
We have celebrations continuing
for the lunar year throughout
the next couple of weeks.
And what we would want to share with
folks is to to encourage them to still
take part in those celebrations,
to recognize the importance of
this sort of period of time and
also take this opportunity to
really connect as a community.
And he suggests heading out to
the Chinese Vietnamese New Year
lunar New Year celebration.
That's the San Diego Tet festival.
It's this weekend.
It's a free event over a span of three days.
He said he's going to be there
with his family and really does
encourage those to come out,
enjoy the food,
learn about the culture and experience
in and come together and support
for what happened in Monterey.
I'm Dana Marie McGill,
coming to you live from the convoy district.
Thank you so much Dana Maria and
new this morning. Take a look at
this photos just into our newsroom.
It shows a governor Gavin Newsom at the
site of the mass shooting in Monterey Park.
He also visited with families at the
Reunification Center as well as some
residents who were affected by this tragedy.
And the governor is also calling
for gun reform at a national level.
The governor has ordered flags at
Allstate buildings to be flown at
half staff in honor of the victims.
And meantime, San Diego Mayor Todd
Gloria says there are no threats.
Locally, but he is monitoring the
situation along with police Chief David
Nisley and Council member Kent Lee to
ensure the safety of Lunar New Year events.
Chief Naslite says there will be an increased
police presence during festivities here.