- Brandon Tsay lunged at the shooter and snatched his handgun.
- “Something came over me,” Brandon Tsay told.
- “I needed to take this weapon, disarm him, or else everybody would have died”, he further added.
In the predominantly Asian American city of Monterey Park, California, on the eve of the Lunar New Year, a shooter opened fire on Star Ballroom Dance Studio, killing 11 people and injuring another 10.
If not for the acts of a 26-year-old guy at a second dancing class in nearby Alhambra, where the suspect went after the shooting at Star Ballroom, the death toll may have been significantly higher.
When the shooter entered the building, Brandon Tsay, whose family runs Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio, lunged at him and snatched the semiautomatic handgun out of his hands.
Tsay claimed in a GMA interview that he was watching the ballroom dancers when he heard the front door close and the sound of metal clinking together as the suspect reloaded his gun.
Tsay looked back and noticed the shooter. “”My first thought was I was gonna die here,” he said.
Tsay told the New York Times that the suspect’s appearance and the weapon he was holding led him to believe that the man was looking for targets.
Tsay said of the weapon, “From his body language, his facial expression, his eyes, he was looking for people”.
A heated battle between them is captured on security footage when he lunged at the gunman and snatched the gun. Tsay told GMA that after being struck in the face and on the back of his head by the suspect, he was still able to grab the gun from the gunman and direct it at the suspect.
The man stood there “contemplating whether to fight or to run away,” Tsay claimed when he had expected him to escape.
Tsay remarked,”I really thought I would have to shoot him if he came at me, “This is when he turned around and walked out the door.”
The shooter was allegedly disarmed with the assistance of two men, however, CCTV footage shows Tsay tussling with the suspect by himself. The unknown is the identity of the second person police were referring to.
Tsay, a computer programmer who spends a few days each week at Lai Lai’s ticketing counter, expressed disbelief at the encounter.
“I was shaking all night. I couldn’t believe what happened,” he said. “After waking up, I noticed there was bruising over my body. My face has a bruise across the nose, and the back of my head has some bruising.”
The community is in shock following the tragedy on Saturday night. According to statistics provided by the city, more than 65% of the population of Monterey Park, which is renowned as America’s first suburban Chinatown, is Asian.
When families join together for a reunion supper on the night of the Lunar New Year, it is an important moment for the celebrations. Monterey Park hosted a New Year’s event for locals earlier that day.
Huu Can Tran, 72, who was confirmed as the shooter, was a frequent visitor to Star Ballroom, according to his ex-wife, who spoke to CNN. Although Tran remained at large the next day, he was discovered dead on Sunday after a self-inflicted gunshot wound when police approached his vehicle in Torrance, a city located approximately 30 miles from Monterey Park.
Initially, police reported that the incident had claimed the lives of 10. One of the four injured patients being treated at LAC + USC Medical Center on Monday had “succumbed to their serious injuries,” the hospital said in a statement.
Witnesses to the shooting at Star Ballroom have provided frightening tales of what happened.
Two pals of a woman named Shally who gave her name to ABC7 had passed away that evening.
When the shooter entered the room and started firing, Shally was dancing with her longtime dance partner and friend. Together, they ducked under a table.
Shally claimed that she attempted to awaken her dance partner after the shooter had fled. He had been shot in the back and had passed away, she realised when she noticed her hands stained with blood.
After the initial exchange of gunfire, Shally claimed she believed the incident was finished, but the shooter reloaded and kept firing.
She informed ABC7 that the Asian man who was her dance partner was a friend of her husband and was 62 years old. For the previous eight to ten years, they had gone out dancing once a week.
One of those killed was Ming Wei Ma, the proprietor and dance instructor of Star Ballroom, according to witnesses.
“Mr. Ma, who is very beloved and respected in the dance community and he’s been doing that for over 20 years,” his friend Eric Chen told. “He was trying to stop the shooter and he passed away.”
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