The Monterey Park shooter Huu Can Tran who opened fire and killed 11 people at a dance hall on Saturday night during Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations went to a police station weeks before the carnage and reported decades-old position allegations involving his family, the Hemet Police Department revealed on Monday.
It was also revealed that Tran, 72, had a previous firearm arrest and was manufacturing homemade silencers for weapons. Tran, a former dance instructor, entered the Star Ballroom Dance Studio on Saturday night and opened fire with 42 rounds into a crowd celebrating the Lunar New Year, leaving 11 dead and 9 injured. The 11th victim died on Monday.
Complicated Past
The Hemet Police Department revealed on Monday that Tran entered a Hemet police station on January 7 and 9, "alleging past fraud, theft, and poisoning allegations involving his family in the Los Angeles area 10 to 20 years ago "
Tran allegedly promised to return to the station with proof of his accusations, but he never did, according to the police.
Instead, he went on a rampage on Saturday, killing 11 people inside a dance studio celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year, before killing himself in a standoff with the police.
Police said at a press conference on Monday, that a search of Tran's home helped them find a rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and indications that he was engaged in the manufacture of gun silencers.
However, investigators are yet to find a motive in the largest mass shooting in Los Angeles County history.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, 42 shot casings and a large-capacity ammunition magazine were found in the dance studio, following the mass shooting.
Tran lived in a mobile home approximately 80 miles east of Los Angeles, in the town of Hemet, which was searched. He said the search uncovered a.308 caliber rifle, several electrical gadgets, and materials "that led us to believe the suspect was producing homemade" weapons silencers.
Following the initial gunshot, Tran stormed into a second dance hall in the neighboring village of Alhambra approximately 20 minutes later. There, he was disarmed by a staff member and fled, sparking an overnight manhunt.
Fighting for the Community
Luna claimed that the dance hall's owner had neutralized the potential shooter. "He's the hero that disarmed the suspect,' Luna said. 'What a brave man he is." The hero owner was identified as Brandon Tsay.
According to Luna, the weapon used in the initial assault was a semi-automatic 9 mm MAC-10 pistol, a civilian version of a fully automatic submachine gun used by the military. he Luna did not disclose the magazine's capacity, although a "large-capacity magazine" is defined by California law as one that stores more than 10 rounds.
After leaving the ballroom, the shooter killed himself with a second gun. That one was a Norinco 7.62 x 25mm handgun, according to Luna.
Authorities said they were still looking into how and when Tran obtained the firearms. According to Luna, the shooter had a registered Norinco firearm.
Tran shot himself in the head on Sunday morning after cops surrounded his cargo truck in a parking lot in Torrance, south of Los Angeles. This put an end to the manhunt for the shooter.
Luna stated at a news conference on Monday that Tran had a "limited" criminal history in the past, which included being arrested in 1990 for illegally possessing a handgun.
According to online records, Tran held a current trucking license and had run a business called Tran's Trucking Inc with a Monterey Park post office box address. He had been in the Los Angeles region since at least the 1990s, and according to address records, he moved into the mobile home in Hemet in 2020.
