Los Angeles mass shooting suspect Huu Can Tran, 72, was found Sunday, dead from a shot he fired himself in a van in which authorities said he fled when people stopped him from committing another shooting Saturday night. The New York Times reported that a member of the family that manages the venue snatched the gun from the assailant.
The massacre was the fifth mass murder this month in the United States and struck one of California's biggest celebrations of a date marked in many Asian cultures. The event again wounded a community that has been the target of violence in recent years.
Authorities are now seeking to establish a motive for the shooter who killed 10 people at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club during Lunar New Year celebrations. The killings shocked Asian American communities in the region and marred celebrations across the country.
Hours after going on the run, authorities located the suspect inside his van and this is what the Los Angeles Police Chief narrates:
As the officers exited their patrol car and approached the vehicle to attempt to contact its occupant they heard a gunshot, from inside the van. The officers backed away and requested support from tactical teams. At 2:52 p.m. the SWAT team entered the van and discovered the suspect was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Detectives are working around the clock, gathering information that may help determine the motivation behind this extremely tragic event.
It was also the deadliest attack since May 24, when 21 people were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
No other suspects were at large, Los Angeles County Police Chief Robert Luna said. At a late-night press conference, he said the motive for the attack remained unknown. In addition to the dead, 10 people were injured, seven of them still hospitalized.
Although Luna indicated at his Sunday night press conference that he did not have the exact ages of the victims, he noted that all of the deceased appeared to be in their 50s.
The suspect was carrying what the police chief described as a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine. A second pistol was found in the van in which Tran's body was found.