President Joe Biden led a moment of silence at the White House on Thursday to honor the victims of a shooting that killed 11 people at a Southern California ballroom and seven others at two mushroom farms in the northern part of the state.
“Our prayers are with the people of Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay,” the president said at a Chinese New Year reception.
Biden said he had spoken with Brandon Tsay, 26, who was at a second ballroom a few miles from the scene of the tragedy in Monterey Park when the same gunman entered, brandishing a weapon. Tsay disarmed, and ran away.
Biden praised Tsay’s bravery and called him “a true hero.”
The shootings on Saturday and Monday came during the usually joyous Lunar New Year celebrations and sparked fear in the Asian American community that has seen violence directed at them, some due to misinformation about the coronavirus.
Authorities say Huu Can Tran opened fire late Saturday on dozens of elderly dancers at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. Nine people were also injured. Tran, 72, was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Days later, farm worker Chunli Zhao, 66, opened fire on two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay, killing seven current and former co-workers, police said.
The White House had planned a Lunar New Year celebration before the shooting.
Biden said both communities “will be affected by what they see in their lives,” adding, “as a nation, we have to be there.”
On Sunday, Biden ordered American flags at federal facilities lowered to half-staff until sunset Thursday in honor of the victims in Monterey Park. He said that he has been in touch with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He also sent Vice President Kamala Harris, a native of California, to Monterey Park on Wednesday to offer condolences on behalf of the government.
Biden had been in California on January 19, just two days before the dance studio shooting, to survey the flood damage on the state’s central coast after heavy rains. He spoke to Tsay earlier this week.
“Thank you for taking extraordinary action in the face of danger,” Biden told Tsay in a brief video of the conversation that the White House shared Thursday on Twitter. “I don’t think you realize how much you’ve done for so many people who will never know you.”
Tsay replied that he was still processing what happened.
“For you to call, I’m just happy,” Tsay told the president.
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