January 23, 2023 Monterey Park mass shooting news

There have been 36 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2023. That's more than there have been at this point in any year on record.

The shooting in Monterey Park, California, that killed 11 people Saturday was the deadliest attack since the Uvalde massacre in May 2022.

How this stacks up globally: Regular mass shootings are a uniquely American phenomenon. The US is the only developed country where mass shootings have happened every single year for the past 20 years, according to Jason R. Silva, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at William Paterson University.

The US has the highest firearm homicide rate in the developed world — about 4 per 100,000 people. That’s 18 times the average rate in other developed countries. 

The mass shooting at a Monterey Park, California, dance studio Saturday night set off a 12-hour manhunt for the gunman who carried out the attack that left 11 people dead and almost as many injured.

Authorities were able to track him down by tracing the semi-automatic weapon he was holding, which yielded his name and description.

This is what we know about how the shooting and manhunt unfolded:

CNN’s Dakin Andone, Elizabeth Wolfe, Holly Yan, Chris Boyette, Seán Federico-O’Murchú, Nouran Salahieh, Jeffrey Winter, Casey Tolan, Scott Glover and Michelle Watson contributed to this report.

What started as Monterey Park’s largest event of the year, ended in tragedy after a gunman killed 11 people at a dance studio just hours after the city’s Lunar New Year festival — something Monterey Park City Council Member Thomas Wong said is compounded by a rise of Asian hate across the country.

Lunar New Year is a large, popular holiday for many Asian cultures around the world, Wong said, including in Monterey Park where there is a large Asian American community. About 65% of residents are of Asian descent and some 100,000 people from across Southern California typically turn out for Lunar New Year celebrations.

This was the first year the city’s celebration was in person since the pandemic began in 2020.

“I was excited to get back together in person to celebrate community, to bring families together, but instead we’re dealing with this tragedy and trying to get through this together,” Wong told CNN Monday.

He described the shooting Saturday as “tragedy piled on tragedy.”

Despite hardships, Wong said he has seen communities come together to support each other with “neighbors checking in on neighbors, family checking in on family,” he said.

“The outpouring of support has been encouraging in this time of tragedy,” Wong said.

Police are still investigating the motive of the shooting. Wong said he hopes to have more answers soon to work on trying to prevent it from happening again.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department is “committed to doing everything in our power to protect our communities from gun violence and the terrible devastation that it brings,” following this weekend’s shooting in Monterey Park, California.

Garland also said the FBI and ATF are providing support to state and local law enforcement there.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna will provide an update on the investigation into Saturday's mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, at 3 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET), the sheriff's office confirmed.

Luna will provide information gathered from a search warrant that was executed earlier Monday, Monterey Park police chief Scott Wiese said at a separate news conference Monday.

"Just because the suspect dies doesn't mean the investigation stops," Wiese added.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday he was able to meet with some victims and families of the Monterey Park massacre, including a man whose bones were shattered.

“I met with a victim in the ICU last night that may not make it. And, you know, shared my quiet thoughts to the victim. That's intense. What a privilege for me to be able to see him. I met a victim and his son, his mom speaks Cantonese, and a translator," the governor said.

Newsom continued: "And while that young man is in the bed with shattered bones, he’s saying, 'How many days do I have to be here because I can't afford this hospital? How many days am I going to be here because I'm scared I'm gonna lose my job in the warehouse? Can you help me?' So I've met with the victims and their families. And I hope we remember those folks too. Not just the people that died." 

Newsom also commended the resiliency of the local community.

“There’s one thing yesterday and today that gives me some hope and confidence. It’s how resilient this community is. How close-knit the community is," the governor told CNN.

Newsom said that he also spoke to a business owner who knew the suspect well and told him he "was a good customer for years" and he "never saw this happening." 

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis said the Monterey Park community has always been welcoming to everyone — and will continue to be resilient as people begin to heal after 11 people were killed in a mass shooting Saturday.

A gunman had walked into Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the Los Angeles area neighborhood and opened fire shortly after a Lunar New Year celebration. The man then drove to a second dance hall in neighboring Alhambra where he entered with a firearm but fled after being disarmed, the Los Angeles County sheriff's office said.

At the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio in Alhambra, Brandon Tsay said he saw the gunman enter and that he appeared to be looking for targets. Tsay told "Good Morning America" that he lunged at the gunman and struggled with him before eventually wrestling the weapon from him.

Solis, speaking at a news conference Monday, called Tsay a "hero."

Solis called on people to remember families who lost loved ones as well as those who were injured and are still in the hospital.

Mymy Nhan, 65, is among the victims of the deadly Monterey Park, California shooting. 

Nhan loved to dance and spent many years at the dance studio where she was shot and killed, Saturday. Nhan was a “loving aunt, sister, daughter and friend,” according to a statement from her family.

Tiffany Liou, a reporter for CNN affiliate WFAA in Dallas, Texas, told CNN and also posted on Twitter that Nhan was her husband’s aunt. 

“Mymy treated her nieces/nephews like her own kids,” Liou  tweeted. “Her kindness is what’s needed in this world.”

California officials are giving an update on the mass shooting that left 11 people dead and nine others injured.

The gunman opened fire at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park after a Lunar New Year celebration Saturday night before driving to another dance hall in nearby Alhambra, where he brandished a semi-automatic weapon, investigators said.

The 72-year-old was found dead in his vehicle from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday. The sheriff's department got a search warrant for the suspect's home in the senior community about 80 miles east of Monterey Park – The Lakes at Hemet West – a Hemet Police spokesperson confirmed.