After a Lunar New Year festival, a shooting near LA left 10 person killed - After the Lunar New Year event, a gunman in the Los Angeles area murders ten people

California's MONTEREY PARK (AP) — Following a Lunar New Year party, a shooter opened fire at a ballroom dancing school in the Los Angeles region, killing 10 people and starting a manhunt for the perpetrator in the country's sixth mass murder this month.

According to Capt. Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, 10 more persons were hurt and treated for their injuries before being transported to hospitals, where their situations ranged from stable to serious.

About 22 miles (34.5 kilometres) away from the second site, in Torrance, another neighbourhood with a significant Asian population, the van was located.

WATCH: The LA County Sheriff's Department conducts a briefing following the shooting at Monterey Park

Asian American communities in the Los Angeles region experienced a wave of panic following the shooting, which also put a shadow over Lunar New Year celebrations across the nation. Other cities dispatched more police to keep an eye on the festivities.

Five ladies and five men were killed in the incident at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, according to Luna, and ten more people were injured. The Lai Lai Ballroom in adjacent Alhambra was then invaded by a guy carrying a pistol 20 to 30 minutes later.

The two incidents, according to authorities, are related. They made no mention of a potential reason.

According to Luna, the suspect brought a pistol inside the Alhambra club and was confronted by clubgoers who took the gun from him before he left.

Hours earlier, Luna reported that investigators were searching for a white van after witnesses claimed to have seen the perpetrator fleeing from Alhambra in one.

"We think someone is in that car," someone said. We do not know their condition, but we will manage it as safely as we can while attempting to locate that individual. Could our suspect be there? Maybe, Luna said.

Luna responded to a query by stating that it was conceivable the individual besieged in the van was already deceased.

A short while later, members of a SWAT squad entered the van and began to go through its contents before leaving. What they discovered was ambiguous.

Authorities said that they are aware of the suspect's name on Sunday but chose not to disclose it for fear that it would make it more difficult for them to capture him. However, they did publish a picture of an Asian man sporting a winter hat and glasses.

The type of gun found in Alhambra was not disclosed by the sheriff. He said that according to the investigators, the weapon used at Monterey Park was not an assault rifle.

This month, there have been five major killings throughout the country. Since May 24, when 21 people were slain in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, it was also the worst incident.

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The majority of the 60,000 residents of Monterey Park, which is on the eastern outskirts of Los Angeles, are Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans. The incident took place in the centre of the city's downtown, where red lanterns had been hung to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Happy Year of the Rabbit! was written on a sizable banner that was positioned next to a police cruiser.

One of California's biggest celebrations, held at Monterey Park, drew tens of thousands of people throughout the day.

An estimated 100,000 individuals had previously attended the two days of activities, which were scheduled. However, in response to the shooting, authorities called off Sunday's activities.

When Tony Lai, 35, of Monterey Park, went outside for his early-morning stroll and discovered that the noises he had heard in the previous evening were gunshots, he was astounded.

"I assumed it could have been fireworks. I assumed it may be related to Lunar New Year," he remarked. And there aren't many fireworks displayed here. Observing this is strange. This place is quite secure. Despite the fact that we are in the heart of the city, it is really secure.

The Monterey Park studio is roughly two blocks from Wynn Liaw's home, and she expressed disbelief that such a crime would take place, particularly during the New Year's festivities.

As a time when "you don't do anything that will bring bad luck the entire year," Chinese people "consider Chinese New Year to be very, very special."

To show her Chinese family and friends "how insane the U.S. is getting with all these major shootings, even in the New Year," she snapped a photo of the commotion outside the studio.

With 42 such assaults, 2022 was one of the worst years for mass killings in the country since the tracker's inception in 2006, according to the Associated Press/USA Today database on such crimes. In the database, a mass murder is defined as the killing of four persons, excluding the offender.

Two months after five people were slain at a nightclub in Colorado Springs, there was further violence.

WATCH: Club Q massacre victims call for action from Congress on firearms

According to officials, President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were informed of the circumstances.

The incident took place at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, which is located on Garvey Avenue, the major road in Monterey Park. Garvey Avenue is lined with small shopping centres that have signage in both English and Chinese. Chinese holidays are observed, Cantonese and Mandarin are commonly spoken, and the city frequently hosts screenings of Chinese movies.

The company rented out space for gatherings and taught dances including the fox trot, tango, and rumba. On Saturday, it advertised an event dubbed "Star Night" from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on its website.