Monterey Park mass shooting updates: Suspect had hundreds of rounds of ammo

The 72-year-old suspect has died following Saturday night's mass shooting.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, Teddy Grant, and Kevin Shalvey
Last Updated: January 23, 2023, 5:35 AM EST

Eleven people were killed and nine others were injured by a gunman who opened fire at a crowded dance studio in Monterey Park, California, on Saturday night, authorities said.

The suspect -- identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran -- fled the scene and traveled to nearby Alhambra, where he allegedly entered a second dance hall, where he was disarmed. Tran was found dead on Sunday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a van in Torrance, about 30 miles southwest of Monterey Park, according to police.

A gunman opened fire at a dance studio during a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, Calif., before fleeing the scene on the night of Jan. 21, 2023.
AP

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Jan 23, 2023, 5:31 AM EST

Survivor says longtime dance partner was among those killed

Shally was dancing the jive with her longtime dance partner on Saturday night when a gunman entered the studio and opened fire.

"We go to hide under the table," Shally, who only provided her first name, recalled during an interview with Los Angeles ABC station KABC. "I think [my partner] had got shot already but not realized yet."

Shally said she saw the gunman leave to get more bullets. When he returned, he reloaded the gun and opened fire again, she said.

"I said, 'Lie down.' We all lied down," Sally told KABC.

Shally said the shooter then fled the scene and she turned to her partner, who she realized was unconscious. She tried to wake him but then saw her hands were covered in blood, she said.

"I thought I got shot too," she told KABC.

Shally said she then realized that her partner had been shot in the back and the blood on her hands was his, from when they were holding each other in fear while hiding under the table.

"'Wake up, wake up,'" she recalled telling her partner. "He was dead."

Shally, who did not want to share the name of her dance partner, said he was a good friend and that they had danced together every week for about 10 years. She described him as a 62-year-old Asian man who didn’t have any family and said he was also friends with her husband, whom she married a couple years ago.

"He's a nice guy," she told KABC of her dance partner. "We love to dance."