LOS ANGELES — It was a celebration to rejoice the Lunar New 12 months, and dance college students gathered at a beloved studio within the coronary heart of Monterey Park, Calif., as soon as marketed as a metropolis of desires for Chinese language immigrants newly arrived in America.

Hooked up to an Asian natural retailer, the outside of Star Ballroom Dance Studio was humble, its entrance off a car parking zone marked by a small awning. But its expansive dance ground attracted marquee lecturers and high-level performers from all over the world. It was thought-about a refuge for its clientele, a lot of whom have been older Chinese language Individuals who had discovered a snug house to twirl and socialize. Emanating from its doorways late at night time was music match for the waltz, fox trot, tango and extra.

However on Saturday night time, someday after 10 p.m., a gunman strode inside and shattered any feeling of sanctuary.

5 males and 5 girls have been fatally shot and 10 extra have been injured earlier than the gunman, the police imagine, left the scene and entered a second dance membership in close by Alhambra, the place patrons have been in a position to disarm him earlier than he fled in what investigators described as a white cargo van.

The drama got here to an finish on Sunday afternoon, when after an hourslong manhunt, a SWAT staff pinned that van in a car parking zone in Torrance, some 30 miles from the scene of the shootings. Officers heard one shot as they approached the van, and found that the suspect had shot himself, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna mentioned.

The person, recognized as Huu Can Tran, 72, was pronounced lifeless on the scene.

“I’m right here to report that the suspect chargeable for this tragedy is now not a risk,” the sheriff mentioned.

The assault was the deadliest mass capturing in the USA since the bloodbath in Uvalde, Texas, final Might, when 19 kids and two lecturers have been killed, and the second main capturing in lower than per week in California, after gunmen killed a household of six in Tulare County final Monday in what the police mentioned was most likely a gang-related slaying.

The killings on Sunday occurred on the eve of the Lunar New 12 months, a major vacation for Asian Individuals that had drawn hundreds of individuals out to rejoice in Monterey Park earlier within the day, with plans to proceed on Sunday. Neighbors would later be horrified to be taught that what they thought had been the sound of celebratory fireworks was really the explosion of gunfire.

Dozens of individuals have been on the dance studio Saturday night time, a lot of them dealing with a mirror as they carried out a Chinese language sq. dance, in keeping with a pupil named Grace who was there, who mentioned she had been dancing on the studio for about 4 years.

She mentioned many individuals didn’t discover when the gunman first arrived. Then, a spherical of rapid-fire pictures rang out. “Nobody dared to flee. All of us acquired right down to the bottom, hiding wherever we might,” mentioned Grace, who requested to be recognized solely by her English first identify. She mentioned the gunman appeared to expire of ammunition, left after which returned. “Nobody might get out,” she mentioned.

Folks fled to the again, she mentioned, attempting to cover within the restrooms and in a room used for karaoke.

She mentioned she heard a minimum of 10 pictures. “First time was 5 or 6 or seven in a row. After which he ran out of bullets after which he got here again and stored capturing.” All instructed, the gunman was contained in the studio for about 5 minutes, she mentioned.

Jeff Liu, 62, had been standing close to the doorway when the gunman entered, in keeping with his daughter, Juno Blees. Mr. Liu was grazed by bullets on his shoulder and his again, she mentioned.

Ms. Blees mentioned her father instructed her the gunman had appeared to shoot indiscriminately at these inside, together with a employee promoting tickets at a sales space.

Mr. Liu’s spouse, Nancy, collapsed and, as of Sunday afternoon, the household didn’t know her location or situation, she mentioned. “We referred to as the entire hospitals, however we couldn’t find her.”

The Monterey Park police chief, Scott Wiese, mentioned the officers who arrived on the ballroom lower than three minutes after the primary name have been among the many youngest on town’s pressure. The scene they encountered was “chaos,” he mentioned, with lifeless and injured folks contained in the constructing and witnesses working out of the doorways.

“My younger officers did their job, looked for a suspect after which got here again and needed to take care of the carnage that was inside,” he mentioned. “And it was in depth.”

Officers discovered that the suspect had gone subsequent to the dance membership in Alhambra, Sheriff Luna mentioned, the place he was disarmed by group members who he mentioned must be thought-about heroes.

“I can let you know that the suspect walked in there most likely with the intent to kill extra folks,” he mentioned.

After the alert for the white cargo van went out, tactical groups surrounded a automobile matching that description in Torrance, the sheriff mentioned. Greater than an hour of tense preparations ensued, throughout which tactical officers pinned within the van with armored automobiles, and ultimately broke its home windows and entered. Sheriff Luna mentioned proof discovered within the van linked the person inside, who had shot and killed himself, to each crime scenes.

A handgun was recovered from the van, Sheriff Luna mentioned, including that the weapon confiscated from the suspect in Alhambra, a magazine-fed semiautomatic assault pistol with an prolonged large-capacity journal connected to it, was most likely not authorized in California.

Monterey Park, a metropolis of about 60,000 residents, is greater than 60 p.c Asian American. Positioned about seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles, it’s thought-about a mecca for Chinese language immigrants, a spot the place they may discover consolation within the meals and language of their beginning land whereas placing down American roots for his or her kids. With more room than Los Angeles’s Chinatown, it’s a suburban enclave {that a} well-known developer as soon as marketed as “the Chinese language Beverly Hills,” and it stays a vacation spot within the San Gabriel Valley, a area recognized for its immigrant populations and Asian and Latin delicacies.

After a three-year hiatus through the pandemic, town’s two-day Lunar New 12 months celebration had been a a lot anticipated occasion. On Saturday afternoon, Garvey Avenue, a major thoroughfare, was a cheerful scene of distributors and carnival rides. However it might quickly be closed off with police tape.

Consultant Judy Chu, whose district consists of Monterey Park and who served as its mayor 3 times, mentioned the assault “tore a gap by all of our hearts.” She had, she mentioned, grow to be a member of an unlucky membership: a civic chief with a mass capturing to reply to.

“It has been occurring every day now, and we are able to barely maintain depend of those mass shootings,” Ms. Chu mentioned.

She mentioned it was essential to curtail the provision of weapons, “in order that it isn’t really easy for somebody to stroll into an institution and shoot folks and destroy their lives,” she mentioned.

On Sunday, households of the victims and others who’ve lengthy gathered on the dance studio have been attempting to make sense of what had occurred.

Ms. Blees, whose father was injured and whose mom was lacking, mentioned her dad and mom had emigrated from China to Monterey Park greater than 20 years in the past and infrequently left one another’s aspect. She mentioned her father was resting at residence, torn by the dearth of reports about his spouse and the expensive associates he had made over time.

“My dad and mom go there loads. They like it. They know everybody there,” she mentioned. “It’s horrible what occurred.”

Elizabeth Yang, who dances on the studio on Mondays, mentioned that at 40 years outdated, she is often the youngest in attendance. The scholars take their craft critically, she mentioned, with girls arriving in lengthy, jewel-encrusted attire. However they arrive to a welcoming setting, with refreshments and heat greetings, she mentioned.

“They’re people who’re having fun with the remainder of their lives and desirous to have one thing enjoyable,” Ms. Yang mentioned. “They have been so pleasant, they’d put me in entrance of the category, so I may be nearer to the teacher.”

Heather Smith, a dance coach who trains opponents at Star Dance Ballroom, mentioned she and the proprietor of the studio have been at a ballroom competitors and gala at a special location when the capturing occurred, however that the proprietor’s boyfriend had died within the capturing.

“Our dance group could be very close-knit,” Ms. Smith mentioned. “We’re all simply in full shock.”

Ms. Smith mentioned that the studio proprietor had been intent on reopening the dance studio through the pandemic “as a result of she is aware of that dancing makes everybody blissful.”

Thomas Wong, a Monterey Park metropolis councilman, who grew up within the metropolis and whose council district consists of the positioning of the capturing, mentioned a lot of his acquaintances had taken classes on the studio.

“It’s a longtime enterprise locally, and a gathering place,” Mr. Wong mentioned. “It’s stunning, particularly this weekend, of all weekends,” he added. “We have been welcoming everybody again for the primary time because the pandemic. To begin off the 12 months like that is simply tragic.”

Vik Jolly and Tim Arango contributed reporting from Monterey Park. Shawn Hubler contributed from Sacramento. Kellen Browning contributed from Torrance. Further reporting was contributed by Edgar Sandoval, Jack Healy, Isabella Kwai, David W. Chen, Angela Chen, Glenn Thrush, Muyi Xiao and Ang Li. Susan C. Beachy contributed analysis.