A screenshot from a video shows emergency responders helping a man to an ambulance after a shooting in Monterey Park, California, USA January 22, 2023.
come | Via Reuters
At least 10 people were killed and at least 10 others were injured in a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, late Saturday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
“Investigators are working on every lead in this case,” Captain Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s homicide division told a press conference early Sunday, adding that they are reviewing CCTV footage from near the scene.
“We have 10 dead at the scene,” he said, adding that at least 10 people have been taken to hospital with “critical to stable injuries.”
The incident occurred around 10:22 p.m. local time (1:22 a.m. ET), the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
Police and fire units could be seen in the area in a video posted to social media. Another shows the victim being transferred to an ambulance.
Sgt. Bob Boese of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told the Associated Press that the shooter was a male.
Meyer told a news conference the suspect fled the scene and remained at large. More information about the suspect will be provided as it becomes available, he said.
“As the suspect knows one of the victims, it is too early in the investigation to know that,” he said, adding that it is also too early to know what the motive is.
The shooting happened after thousands of people gathered for the Lunar New Year Festival in the small town about 10 miles east of Los Angeles of about 60,000 people with a large Asian population.
The two-day event features “food booths with a wide variety of delicious items, amusement rides, and lots of live entertainment,” according to the city’s website.
The event was canceled Sunday out of respect for the victims, Chief Scott Wiese of the Monterey Park Police Department told a news conference.