MONTEREY PARK: The gunman who opened fire at a ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park on Saturday night, killing 10 people and injuring 10 others, remained on the loose Sunday morning, Los Angeles Times, quoting authorities, reports.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said a “very preliminary description” was that the suspect is an Asian man, but he did not provide further details, the report said. He said that the shooting occurred at a business on Garvey Ave in Monterey Park.
The gunman opened fire as the local community were celebrating Lunar New Year at the venue in Monterey Park, with witnesses saying he shot indiscriminately with a semiautomatic weapon.
Captain Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said officers had responded to emergency calls around 10:20pm on Saturday (6:20 Sunday GMT) and found people pouring out of the premises.
"The officers made entry to the location and located additional victims," he said.
"The Monterey Park Fire Department responded to the scene and treated the injured and pronounced 10 of the victims deceased at the scene."
There are at least 10 additional victims that were transported to numerous local hospitals and are listed in various conditions from stable to critical.
"The suspect fled the scene and remains outstanding."
Police gave no description of the wanted man, and did not say what kind of gun he used. Sheriff's deputies were scouring the scene Sunday morning for clues and had established a security perimeter around the area, an AFP reporter said.
A helicopter flew overhead, as television trucks set up to broadcast.
At the entrance to Monterey Park, only a few miles from downtown Los Angeles, a banner celebrating the Lunar New Year remained in place.
Monterey Park is home to around 60,000 people, the majority of them Asian or Asian American.
Meyer said detectives were also aware of another incident in the neighboring city of Alhambra.
"We have investigators on scene trying to determine if there's a connection between these two incidents," he said.
Media reports said an attempted shooting at a ballroom and dance studio in Alhambra had been thwarted, with the alleged gunman tackled and disarmed, and no injuries reported.
US President Joe Biden has been briefed about the killings in Monterey Park, and ordered the FBI to give "full support" to local authorities, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted.
The shooting was the deadliest in the US since a shooter in Uvalde, Texas killed 22 people at an elementary school last May 24.
Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, told the Los Angles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door.
The people also told Choi that there was a shooter with a machine gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him so he could reload. Choi said he believes the shooting took place at a dance club.
The newspaper reported that the shooting happened after 10 pm.
Saturday was the start of the two-day festival, which is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in Southern California.
(With inputs from AFP and AP)