Posted by 
A gunman is on the loose after at least 10 people were killed and 10 more injured in a mass shooting at a ballroom dance studio in California.
Police were called to the studio in Monterey Park at 10.22pm (local time) after a major Lunar New Year festival was held in the city of about 61,000 people, which is 16km east of Los Angeles.
Captain Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said first responders found people “pouring out of the location, screaming”.
Captain Meyer told media there was no known motive and no description of the shooter – who remains at large but is believed to be male.
He said it was “too early in the investigation to know if this was a hate crime”.
The weapon used is also unknown, with police only able to describe it as a “firearm”.
Police are scouring CCTV to look for more information that might help identify the attacker.
The 10 victims in hospital have injuries ranging from critical to stable.
The Monterey Park community had been celebrating the Lunar New Year and the city is known for its annual festival. In previous years it had attracted crowds of up to 100,000 people.
About 65 per cent of Monterey Park’s residents are of Asian descent, according to census data.
Earlier in the day, thousands of people attended the festival. Tomorrow’s planned festival has been cancelled by authorities.
Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, told the Los Angeles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door.
The people also told Choi that there was a shooter with a machine gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him so he could reload. Choi said he believes the shooting took place at a dance club.
The newspaper reported that the shooting happened after 10pm local time.
This attack is the fifth mass shooting in the US this month and the deadliest since 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the US.
– Reported with AP and CNN
Source: 9News
