“What was the shooter’s motive?” Did he suffer from mental disorders? Was he a violent spouse? How did he get his guns? Like many residents of Monterey Park, a city of 60,000 residents of the suburbs of Los Angeles two-thirds of Asian origin, where eleven people were killed in a dance hall on the sidelines of the Lunar New Year celebrations, Saturday, l Californian elected official Judy Chu has “a lot of questions”. Which will not answer the suspect, a septuagenarian of Chinese origin, who committed suicide. But according to Los Angeles Timesthe investigators favor the track of jealousy and a targeted attack.
After a manhunt, Huu Can Tran, 72, was found dead Sunday in his van in Torrance, south of Los Angeles. A weapon was found in his vehicle. On Monday, one of the injured people died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 11.
An angry man
According to Chester Chong, president of the Los Angeles Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the shooter was likely looking for a woman who had been asked to dance without him. The suspect regularly frequented the dance hall, at least in the past. It was there that he had met his ex-wife. The latter, who filed for divorce in 2005 and hasn’t seen him in years, told CNN that Huu Can Tran, who was giving her dance lessons at the time, was “quick to anger” when she missed a step because he felt it reflected back on him.
About ten years ago, the suspect also went to the police, saying his family was trying to poison him, but did not file a complaint. According to the LA Times, Tran was suffering from “emotional disturbances” which had worsened in recent weeks.
This massacre shakes a community already marked by the explosion of anti-Asian attacks, in particular catalyzed by the pandemic, with an increase of 177% in 2021 in California. It is also the deadliest shooting since the school in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022. “No country in the world is so terrorized by this constant stream of gun violence. We need national reform,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said.