Loss Angeles stunned by mass shooting in Monterey Park

Ten people are dead and 10 others injured, after a mass shooting at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club on Saturday night.

Los Angeles Sheriff, Andrew Meyer, confirmed Sunday that the wounded were taken to hospitals and their conditions range from stable to critical. He said the 10 people died at the scene in the city of Monterey Park.

Officers first arrived at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday after people poured out of the location and screamed for help, according to Meyer. He said officers then went into the ballroom and found victims as firefighters treated the wounded.

The gunman whose motive is not yet known is on the run.

Meyer said it’s too early in the investigation to know if the gunman knew anyone at the ballroom or if it was a hate crime or not. He gave no other details.

Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people that sits at the eastern edge of Los Angeles. The majority of its residents are Asian immigrants or their descendants, most of them Chinese. The dance studio in downtown Monterey Park is just a few blocks from city hall on its main thoroughfare of Garvey Avenue, which is dotted with strip malls that are full of small businesses whose signs are in both English and Chinese. Cantonese and Mandarin are both widely spoken, Chinese holidays such as the lunar New year are celebrated in the city.

The celebration in Monterey Park is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in Southern California. Two days of festivities were planned but officials canceled Sunday’s events following the shooting.