Mass shooting at Star Dance Studio in LA

Reports are that this may be a domestic situation that spilled over.

I am reminded of a local incident that happened on a Western NYE 8 or 9 years ago. Seems a couple was fighting, maybe had broken up. Woman was attend a NYE party at a local ballroom studio. Husband was angry and fired a single shot into the front of the studio, the bullet ended up in a bathroom at the rear. NYE party was ongoing, fortunately no one was hit.
 
It sounds like the shooter was Vietnamese and there was something where he didn't like a girl going dancing and was jealous.

The person who hired me, Mr Ma there was the first person who was shot. It's hard to fathom that he suddenly died like that. He has a famous in China before. He was part of a dance and music group and performed all over china.

He brought the same Spirit to star dance. He encouraged everyone to perform. And he performed a lot too. Every 3 months there would be a performance approximately. And a lot of spectators would come to watch.

The studio was at the center of the city. Everybody knew it. Now I have to wonder if they're going to be able to stay open.

There's another studio in the city just north of there which is about 7 minute drive. The gunman went there after star, but two people apparently were able to get the gun away from him and he fled.

Then apparently there was a standoff in Torrance California which is a good 40 minutes from there. They surrounded him in his van and he had killed himself.

But there has to be at least 20 families affected by all this. There are injured people. I have to wonder who will even remember what happened two weeks from now.
 
the shooter went up to lai lai where my cousin takes lessons with his wife. fortunately people there managed to overpower him and take away his firearm prompting him to flee. apparently he drove down to torrance and then committed suicide.

i personally haven't been to star ballroom in least two decades. it's more an asian ex-pat scene to me and most folks tend to BYOP while i'm at the other end of any spectrum that includes that kind of environment. the only places i might go in the WSGV would be to the granada in alhambra or the sonata room in arcadia.
 
DanceMentor said:
DanceMentor said:
Dance Mentor, I'm sorry to hear about this tragic event. Hi. I'm Cat Sandoval, reporter at Scripps News. We just arrived in Monterey Park this evening. Would you be open to an video interview tomorrow 1/23 Monday? I'm at cat.sandoval@scripps.com and (646)226-3163. You're probably exhausted but if you're up for it we think its important to cover this story. Thanks for your time.
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I guess around 10:00 tonight someone entered the studio with a gun and started shooting. It was some sort of automatic type weapon. Early reports are that there were 10 people killed, and nine more injured.

My student was there at the party and she crawled under the table. It's nearly 2:00 a.m. and she's still at the police station and they're asking everyone about what happened.

This was an area where everyone was celebrating Chinese new year. The dance studio is right at the heart of Monterey Park so there were certainly a lot of people in festivities going on.

It's hard to imagine just how hard-hearted somebody can be to do something like that. And I worry so much for the studio and for all the people that are affected. My thoughts are with them.

At the moment, I don't think they have even apprehended the shooter.
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DanceMentor said:
Long day. Talk to you just about every major press outlet like cnn, abc, NBC, fox, Washington post, New York times, LA Times People magazine, and a couple more. I guess I've been on TV a couple times. I'm just tired now.
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DanceMentor -- it seems like the reporters just keep coming. If talking to them helps, that's great. But if it doesn't, make sure you take care of yourself and allow yourself time to grieve.
 
David_In_CA said:
DanceMentor -- it seems like the reporters just keep coming. If talking to them helps, that's great. But if it doesn't, make sure you take care of yourself and allow yourself time to grieve.
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What I say to them is progressing. This is my one opportunity to say something like this...

I now see first hand how things like this are going to be forgotten in a couple of days by the rest of the nation. How is it possible for a man to get a hold of an assault rifle and unleash it on all these people? The answer is, it's super easy. If you are a little insane, you can just go get what you need and go kill a bunch of people. This is untenable. We have to change the way we do things.
 
DM, thanks for your posts, what a terrible thing.

Here is a quote from an article:
​
Tran had once been a regular of the Southern California dance studio where he opened fire and even met his ex-wife there, three people who knew him told CNN.​
​
His ex-wife, who did not want her name to be revealed, told CNN that she had met Tran about two decades ago at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where he gave informal lessons. ​
​
He offered her free lessons and it wasn't long before they were married.​

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-standoff-white-van-linked-mass-shooting.html
 
Tango Distance said:
DM, thanks for your posts. What a terrible thing.

Here is a quote from an article:
​
Tran had once been a regular of the Southern California dance studio where he opened fire and even met his ex-wife there, three people who knew him told CNN.​
​
His ex-wife, who did not want her name to be revealed, told CNN that she had met Tran about two decades ago at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where he gave informal lessons. ​
​
He offered her free lessons and it wasn't long before they were married.​

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-standoff-white-van-linked-mass-shooting.html
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Good information. There were some things I had not heard yet. I wasn't sure if he was vietnamese. Or chinese. I saw his picture and I did not recognize him though I have worked there for 10 years. Possibly some other pictures might refresh me a little.
 
@DanceMentor If the news media is too much of an annoyance, offer to do a one-time press conference via Zoom and get it over with.

The description of this guy reminds me of someone local whom I call Teacher Guy. If something goes wrong, he stops and instructs his partner on how to follow his inadequate lead.
 
DanceMentor said:
DanceMentor said:
If you are a little insane, you can just go get what you need and go kill a bunch of people. This is untenable. We have to change the way we do things.
Click to expand...
People don’t need to be insane to do this. They just need to be feeling normal human emotions of jealousy, rage and revenge, and have it combined with impulsivity and access to guns. A deadly combination.
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DanceMentor said:
Long day. Talk to you just about every major press outlet like cnn, abc, NBC, fox, Washington post, New York times, LA Times People magazine, and a couple more. I guess I've been on TV a couple times. I'm just tired now.
Click to expand...

Now we know what it takes to get national press attention on a ballroom dance studio. Let's hope some of them become interested enough to cover some of the many, many good things that happen at ballroom studios.

On another note, one of the studios my kids go to in Boston is also called "Star". Hope they don't get confused with the one in LA in the wake of this.

DanceMentor said:
There's another studio in the city just north of there which is about 7 minute drive. The gunman went there after star, but two people apparently were able to get the gun away from him and he fled.
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Yes. Statistically, the most effective way to end an active shooting situation is someone brave enough to fight back - either shoot back or try to get the gun away from the gunman, which has a surprisingly high success rate when it's tried.
 
DanceMentor said:
What I say to them is progressing. This is my one opportunity to say something like this...

I now see first hand how things like this are going to be forgotten in a couple of days by the rest of the nation. How is it possible for a man to get a hold of an assault rifle and unleash it on all these people? The answer is, it's super easy. If you are a little insane, you can just go get what you need and go kill a bunch of people. This is untenable. We have to change the way we do things.
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing your story
 
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