curated by Vee Hua 華婷婷
Late last Saturday, during the Lunar New Year weekend, 11 people were killed and an additional 10 were injured in a mass shooting at a Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California. Monterey Park is a city with a large Asian population, located a half hour east of downtown Los Angeles; it hosts one of the largest Lunar New Year celebrations in the region.
ABC7 reports, "Witnesses say about 50 people were inside the dance studio when the gunman opened fire Saturday night. Five women and five men are among the deceased victims, whose ages ranged from 50 to 70 years old, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner."
About half an hour after the Monterey Park shooting, the gunman headed to another dance studio, Lai Lai Ballroom, in Alhambra. There, two patrons wrestled the suspected gunman's weapon away from him, which was later described by law enforcement as a "magazine-fed semi-automatic assault pistol."
According to a news conference on Sunday afternoon, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that the suspect, Huu Can Tran, 72, was pronounced dead in the nearby city of Torrance, following a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
"Officers followed the van into a shopping center parking lot and began getting out of their patrol car to approach the driver — later identified as Tran — but retreated when they heard a gunshot from inside the van," reports CNN. Inside, they found "several pieces of evidence" linking him to both the Monterey Park and Alhambra dance studios.
A motive has yet to be revealed, but CNN reports that a search warrant has been obtained for Tran's home in Hemet, California.
King tides — high spring tides — frequently take place in conjunction with new moons and full moons. Following flooding incidents on Dec. 27 and 28 due to heavy rainfall and an extreme high tide along the Duwamish River, the South Park neighborhood is bracing for another potential round of flooding this week. Early mornings on Jan. 23 and 25, in particular, have the potential for especially high tides.
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Facilities and Administrative Services (FAS), have created temporary flood barriers along the river and in South Park. They have also made sandbags available to residents and businesses in the area.
SPU encourages residents to sign up for Alert Seattle by texting SEATTLE to 67283 or by going to Alert.Seattle.gov to receive updates about emergencies. They also advise that everyone plan for emergencies by visiting the City's Emergency Management website.
The Seattle Public Library's Central Library will now stay open two hours later (until 8 p.m.) on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The Faye G. Allen Children's Center located on Level 1 will continue to close at 6 p.m. each evening.
Its current hours are now:
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Before you move on to the next story …
The South Seattle Emerald™ is brought to you by Rainmakers. Rainmakers give recurring gifts at any amount. With around 1,000 Rainmakers, the Emerald™ is truly community-driven local media. Help us keep BIPOC-led media free and accessible.
If just half of our readers signed up to give $6 a month, we wouldn’t have to fundraise for the rest of the year. Small amounts make a difference.
We cannot do this work without you. Become a Rainmaker today!