Monterey Park, United States:
The 72-year-old Asian immigrant who killed 11 people before shooting himself when police raided him was once a regular at the California dance club where America’s last gun homicide took place.
Huu Can Tran used a semi-automatic pistol to spray bullets at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, an Asian-majority city near Los Angeles.
Twenty minutes later, he was tackled and disarmed by a young employee of another dance club before fleeing.
As the small town tried to come to terms with the tragedy, which occurred as many in the Asian community celebrated the Lunar New Year, a photo of the suspect began to emerge.
Tran, whose name is typically Vietnamese, emigrated to the United States from China, according to a marriage certificate his ex-wife showed to DailyExpertNews.
The woman, who declined to be named, told the network that she met Tran two decades ago at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where he was a regular.
The studio, which its website says was founded in 1990, offers classes in all types of dance, from children’s ballet to Latin steps to belly dancing.
Tran’s ex-wife says he introduced himself to her at the club and offered her free, informal lessons.
The couple married a short time later, but the marriage did not last.
She said that Tran, who sometimes worked as a truck driver, was not violent but could be impatient, especially when he felt he was being tricked, such as messing up a dance move with her.
Court records cited by DailyExpertNews show that the couple divorced in 2006.
A man who said he knew Tran well in the late 2000s and early 2010s told the broadcaster that he was a regular at the dance studio at the time.
The friend described how Tran would drive almost every night from his home in San Gabriel, a town three miles from Monterey Park.
But Tran would complain about the dance teachers, who he said say “bad things about him,” the man told DailyExpertNews, describing Tran as “hostile to a lot of people there.”
– ‘Something so terrible’-
He sold his home in San Gabriel in 2013.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Tran lived in a mobile home in Hemet, a town of 90,000 about 84 miles east of Los Angeles.
Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department searched his residence there in the Lakes at Hemet West mobile home park, which bills itself as a “55+ active residential community.”
A neighbor there said the community was shocked.
“He would stop to pet your dog, and everyone here thought he was just a quiet little guy,” Pat Roth told broadcaster KTLA.
“People I’ve spoken to are just stunned that he was involved in this.”
Police in Hemet said they had contact with Tran this month.
“Tran visited the Hemet Police Department lobby on January 7-9, 2023 alleging fraud, robbery and poisoning allegations involving his family in the Los Angeles area 10 to 20 years ago,” Hemet PD said.
“Tran said he would return to the station with documentation of his allegations, but he never came back.”
The Los Angeles Times said investigators focused on Tran’s past interactions at the two dance studios and looked at whether relationship jealousy was the motive.
Tran shot himself on Sunday as police officers approached the white van he was riding in.
LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said investigators were investigating Tran’s mental health and criminal history.
“The investigation continues,” he told reporters. “We want to know how something so terrible could happen.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured video of the day
“Centre trying to undermine the judiciary”: ex Supreme Court judge on the appointment of judges