The shooting took place near an area where the Chinese New Year had just been celebrated in Monterey Park. The shooter is still on the run.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
A shooting left ten dead on Saturday evening in Monterey Pok, southern California in the United States, the responsible police authorities announced on Sunday, January 22. Investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Bureau “assist assistance to the Monterey Park police in an investigation into a murderous shooting,” said a statement.
The alleged author of the shooting was still on the run on Sunday, more than five hours after the attack, Captain Andrew Meyer told journalists.
The shooting took place near an area where the Lunar New Year had just been celebrated, better known as the Chinese New Year, in Monterey Park. This city of some 61,000 inhabitants mainly of Asian origin is located 13 kilometers east of Los Angeles.
According to information from the American press, the shooting occurred in a Dancing on Saturday evening, an hour after the Lunar New Year Day.
a man with a semi-automatic rifle
According to Los Angeles Times , tens of thousands of people had gathered for these festivities, scheduled for two days.
A city resident Wong Wei told Los Angeles Times that her friend was in the club and was in the toilet when the shots broke out. When she came out, she saw an armed man and three bodies lying on the ground.
The daily also quotes Seung Won Choi, the owner of a neighboring restaurant. Three people ran into his establishment and told him to close the door. These three people said that there was a man with a semi-automatic rifle and covered with ammunition which recharged his weapon regularly, said the restaurateur.
The United States pays very heavy to the ease with which Americans have access to firearms. In the country, one in three adults has at least one weapon, and almost one in two adults lives in a home where a weapon is.
The consequence of this proliferation is the very high rate of dead by firearm in the United States, without comparison with that of other developed countries. About 49,000 people died by 2021, compared to 45,000 in 2020, which was already a record year. This represents more than 130 dead per day, more than half of which are suicides.