Detectives believe that 72-year-old Huu Can Tran had frequented two dance studios before a mass shooting in Monterey Park and that it might have been sparked by a personal dispute.
The investigation into a mass shooting in Monterey Park is focused on the gunman’s prior interactions at two dance studios he targeted and whether jealousy over a relationship was the motive, law enforcement sources said.
The sources stressed that the investigation is in its early stages. But detectives believe that 72-year-old Huu Can Tran had frequented the clubs — the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park and the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio in Alhambra — and that the shooting might have been sparked by a personal dispute.
They also believe Tran was having unspecified emotional problems that had been getting worse in the weeks before the shooting.
It will likely take weeks to unravel what happened. Detectives began serving search warrants at multiple locations Sunday.
Tran had been living at the Lakes at Hemet West, a mobile home park whose sign billed it as “a 55+ active living community,” according to a public record and law enforcement sources. A security guard turned away a Times reporter at the front gate Sunday night.
“I still have questions in my mind, which is, what was the motive for this shooter? Did he have a mental illness? Was he a domestic violence abuser? How did he get these guns, and was it through legal means? Well, those questions will have to be answered in the future,” U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) said Sunday night during a news conference.
Tran fatally shot himself as officers approached his vehicle parked at a strip mall near Sepulveda and Hawthorne boulevards in Torrance on Sunday following a countywide manhunt.
The shooting, which stunned the Monterey Park community on the eve of Lunar New Year, is one of the worst in modern Los Angeles County history.
Authorities say the gunman opened fire inside Star Ballroom Dance Studio on West Garvey Avenue around 10:20 p.m. Saturday, killing 10 people — including My Nhan, 65, and Lilan Li, 63 — and wounding 10 others. Earlier in the day, thousands of people had come to Monterey Park for the start of a two-day Lunar New Year festival.
