The death toll in the massacre at a dance hall in the US state of California rose to 11 on Monday after one of 10 people taken to hospital alive did not resist his injuries, according to official sources.
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said one of the victims died of gunshot wounds believed to have been sustained by a 72-year-old Asian-American gunman.
“We are saddened to announce that one of the victims has succumbed to his injuries.”said the hospital, which treated four of the 10 injured in the shooting.
After an extensive manhunt that police say ended in the gunman’s suicide, Los Angeles County detectives are still working to unravel the motives that led to the Monterey Park massacre, a town near Los Angeles, California .
In this city of 60,000, many still can’t believe such an act could have happened in this mostly Asian suburb of Los Angeles, known for its tranquility and where the Lunar New Year was celebrated on Saturday night.
The shooting took place at a dance hall around 10 p.m. local time (6 a.m. on Sunday in Lisbon) in an area where hundreds of people had celebrated Chinese New Year hours earlier, and was carried out by a man armed with a machine gun, which the Los Angeles Times reported. fired several magazines from the weapon.
After the Monterey Park massacre, the gunman went to another nearby dance hall but took no further casualties after being disarmed by a youth.
Hours later, US authorities raided a van believed to be related to the shooter.
According to the Los Angeles Times, at least two bullet holes were visible in the driver’s side window just before the police squad approached, and the driver appeared to be slumped over the wheel.
The newspaper cites various police sources, according to which the man committed suicide with a firearm.
According to the local press, the suspect was a former visitor to the dance hall, where he also met his ex-wife.
The shooting during the celebration of the Lunar New Year sent a wave of fear through Asian-American communities and cast a shadow over the festivities across the country.
The massacre was the fifth mass murder in the country this month alone and reached one of the biggest festivities in many Asian cultures, dealing another blow to a community that has been the target of violence and prejudice in the United States in recent years.
It was also the deadliest attack since May 24, when 21 people were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in a country ravaged by gun violence.
Source: DN
