my favorite manager California Dancehall was among 10 victims of the gun massacre during the Lunar New Year celebrations in Monterey Park on Saturday, according to friends and colleagues.
Ming Wei Ma, known to his instructors as “Mr Ma,” died when a 72-year-old gunman broke into the Star Ballroom and opened fire.friend told CBS News The horse “was the first to rush to stop the shooter”.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office, which has jurisdiction over Monterey Park, said Monday morning when it listed two women, My Nhan, 65, and Lilan Li, 63, as the only victims to go public. We hadn’t yet confirmed Ma among the dead. identified so far.
However, reports of Marr’s death were corroborated by Star Ballroom’s professional ballroom dancing instructor, Darius Michalski. post on facebook A picture of the two, along with a heartfelt tribute to the man he called a “friend.”
“Mr. Ma, I will never forget your love and joy for people,” he wrote. “Your passion for dance and sign language will never go away. We will never forget your cries of ‘I love you’ in the studio. We apologize for the inconvenience. I love ya.
Authorities have yet to confirm a motive for the shooting, but law enforcement sources told local news outlets they believed the shooters frequented the two dance studios they targeted. partner violence.
Investigators now believe the shooter deliberately targeted some victimsothers were killed at random, law enforcement officials told the New York Times. appeared in
The 72-year-old gunfighter, an Asian man named Fu Kang Trang, found dead Hours after a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a van in Torrance, Calif. disarmed by workers At the Alhambra’s second dance hall near Monterey Park.
The mayor of Monterey Park, which has a majority Asian-American community, said on Monday that the shooter “was frequently attending dance halls.”
Mayor Henry Law told CNN:Was it a problem of [being] Grievances, or domestic violence issues? Unfortunately I don’t know. “
Authorities were investigating the shooter’s condition weeks before the shooting and how the Los Angeles County Sheriff obtained the weapons he used, including those believed to be illegal in California. .
The shooter once visited a police station in Hemet, Calif., where he lived, and reported that he believed his family had poisoned him, but the incident happened. over 10 years agoreported by the Los Angeles Times.
The ballroom dance studios targeted, one in Monterey Park and two near the Alhambra, were praised for: Lively social centerMany middle-aged and elderly couples who like dancing were regular customers.
Relatives of Mi Nhuan, one of the women killed at the Star Ballroom, said they were “devastated” by her death on social media.
“What happened to Maimie is still sinking in,” the family said in a statement. Post to Twitter Dallas-based WFAA reporter Tiffany Liu said the tragedy occurred “close to home” and that her husband’s family was “hurt beyond measure.” Liou said Nhan was the first victim to be shot dead.
The statement continued: That’s what she loved to do. But unjustly, Saturday was her last dance.
“If you knew her, you knew that her warm smile and kindness were contagious. She was a loving aunt, sister, daughter and friend. She was the biggest cheerleader.”
The statement, signed by the “Family of Nyan and Quang,” concludes by thanking people for their thoughts, prayers, neighbors and communities for their support.
Authorities have yet to publicly identify eight other victims whose relatives are pending notification, two women in their 60s and one in their 50s, the coroner’s office said. , two men in their 60s, and three men in their 70s.
Others who attended lessons at the Star Ballroom painted a picture of a friendly, community-based facility that acts as a de facto social club for locals and dance lovers. The shooting took place during a “fun” event celebrating Chinese New Year, said Elizabeth Yang, a Monterey Park attorney who took classes there.
“The whole city of Monterey Park went from celebrating to being terrified,” Yang says. told the South California Press-Enterprise“We are devastated.”
According to Yang, the owner and instructor of the “elegant” dance hall kept in touch with students who kept in touch with each other outside of class through an online messaging application and social gatherings such as Saturday celebrations.
The Monterey Park killing was one of 36 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. archive classifies shootings (not counting the attacker) as mass shootings in which at least four people are injured or killed.there were 3 other mass shootings At least four people were injured during the 12 hours last weekend, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Two in Louisiana and one in Mississippi.
At 72, the Monterey Park shooter was older than many of the men involved in mass shootings in America. A violence project tracking a subset of mass shootings in the United States has identified at least one shooter in his 70s who killed five people in a Kentucky store in 1981. motivated by personal conflict.
The median age of the shooters in the Violence Project database was 32, and most were male.
Ramon Antonio Vargas Reports Contributed
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/23/monterey-park-california-shooting-victims-motive Monterey Park shooting: Beloved dancehall manager among victims | California