Meyer additionally mentioned police have been investigating one other incident within the close by metropolis of Alhambra to see whether or not it was related.
He mentioned it was too early within the investigation to know if the gunman knew anybody within the ballroom or whether or not it was a hate crime.
Seung Gained Choi, who owns the Clam Home seafood barbecue restaurant throughout the road from the place the taking pictures occurred, instructed The Los Angeles Instances that three individuals rushed into his enterprise and instructed him to lock the door.
They instructed Choi that there was a shooter with a gun and that he had a number of rounds of ammunition on him.
Wong Wei, who lives close by, instructed The Los Angeles Instances that his pal was in a rest room on the dance membership when the taking pictures began. When she got here out, he mentioned, she noticed a gunman and three our bodies.
The pal then fled to Wei’s residence at round 11pm, he mentioned, including that he was instructed the shooter gave the impression to be firing indiscriminately.
Across the scene of the taking pictures, police had cordoned-off streets, native information video confirmed.
Footage posted on social media confirmed injured individuals on stretchers being taken to ambulances by emergency workers.
Tony Lai, 35, of Monterey Park was surprised when he got here out for his early morning stroll to be taught that the noises he heard within the night time have been gunshots.
“I believed possibly it was fireworks. I believed possibly it had one thing to do with Lunar New 12 months,” he mentioned. “And we don’t even get lots of fireworks right here. It’s bizarre to see this. It’s actually protected right here. We’re proper in the course of the town, however it’s actually protected.”
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, referred to as the taking pictures a “heartless act of gun violence.”
One other tribute got here from Los Angeles Metropolis Controller Kenneth Mejia.
“Our hearts exit to those that misplaced family members tonight in our neighbouring metropolis, Monterey Park, the place a mass taking pictures simply occurred,” he mentioned in a tweet.
The White Home mentioned US President Joe Biden had been briefed on the scenario by Homeland Safety adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.
Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland was additionally briefed, Justice Division spokesperson Dena Iverson mentioned.
Monterey Park is a metropolis of about 60,000 those who sits on the jap fringe of Los Angeles.
The vast majority of its residents are Asian immigrants or their descendants, most of them Chinese language.
The dance studio in downtown Monterey Park is just some blocks from metropolis corridor on its foremost thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, which is dotted with strip malls which are stuffed with small companies whose indicators are in each English and Chinese language.
Cantonese and Mandarin are each broadly spoken, Chinese language holidays are celebrated and Chinese language movies are screened within the metropolis.
The celebration in Monterey Park is without doubt one of the largest Lunar New 12 months occasions in Southern California. Two days of festivities have been deliberate, however officers cancelled Sunday’s occasions following the taking pictures.
The tragedy marked not simply the fifth mass killing within the US because the begin of the yr, but additionally the deadliest since Might 24, 2022 when 21 individuals have been killed in a faculty in Uvalde, Texas.
The most recent violence comes two months after 5 individuals have been killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub.
Reuters
Get a observe straight from our international correspondents on what’s making headlines around the globe. Join the weekly What within the World e-newsletter right here.
