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MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – Because the dying toll rose to 11 within the Monterey Park taking pictures rampage, authorities had been pressed to clarify why it took 5 hours after Saturday’s carnage to alert the general public that the killer was on the free.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna stated Monday that his division was “strategic” in its resolution to launch data however that he would overview what occurred. The taking pictures befell late Saturday evening, and the division reported a number of hours later that the unknown assailant was at massive.
“When we started putting out public information, the priority was to get this person into custody,” Luna stated. “Ultimately it worked. We will go back and look at it as we always do.”
Luna said his department would evaluate how it handled the release of information.
“Nobody is as critical as ourselves as to what worked and specifically what didn’t work,” he said.
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Police announced the suspect ‘remains outstanding’
At 2:49 a.m., more than four hours after the initial 911 calls, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Information Bureau issued a news advisory confirming fatalities and that the suspect was male, but there was no mention of the status of the investigation. Shortly after 3:30 a.m., more than five hours after the shooting, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Andrew Meyer held a briefing and said the death toll was 10 and that “the suspect fled the scene and remains outstanding.”
Brian Higgins, an adjunct professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former police chief in Bergen County, New Jersey, told the Associated Press that an alert should have gone out right away.
“What took so long?” Higgins said. “Maybe they didn’t have a good handle on what they had. But if they didn’t know, they should have erred on the side of caution and put this out.”
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Wounded affected person dies two days after taking pictures
One of the four people being treated at the LA County-USC Medical Center died Monday of gunshot wounds, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said Monday. A department news release said another of the wounded patients was in serious condition and the other two were recovering.
Authorities said the initial death count from Saturday night’s attack at a dance studio was 10, and at least 10 were injured. Most of the victims were age 60 or older. The body of the shooter was later found in a van parked about 30 miles away in Torrance.
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Timeline from first 911 name to discovery of killer’s physique
At 10:22 pm local time Saturday, police received 911 calls about an active shooter at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio on Garvey Street, the main drag in Monterey Park. Police arrive within three minutes and find chaos as patrons fled the studio. They discover dead and wounded people inside.
At 12:52 pm Sunday, the county sheriff’s SWAT team clears the van. They find “the suspect sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced useless on the scene,” Luna says.
A timeline from the first call to that announcement is here.
A hero stops the carnage
Brandon Tsay, a part-time helper at one other dance corridor in close by Alhambra, wrestled the gun from Tran minutes after the primary assault and is credited with saving many lives.
Authorities continued trying to find clues about Tran’s motive, which remained unclear. “We all want answers to questions that we may never have answers to,” Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese stated. “That’s sort of the enigma of this.”
Contributing: Orlando Mayorquin and Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY; The Related Press
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