Monterey Park shooting: Early investigation points to a personal motive

The California mass shooting suspect had multiple firearms, possibly illegal gun modifications and so many rounds of ammunition that authorities were unable to keep tabs, the sheriff of Los Angeles County said Monday.

The suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a police traffic stop of the van he was driving in Torrance, about 28 miles from the shooting scene in Monterey Park, officials said.

A search of his residence in Hemet turned up a .308 caliber rifle, evidence that the suspect may have been making gun suppressors, which are illegal in California, and a lot of ammunition, Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday afternoon.

Luna described the hundreds of rounds, in .308 caliber and 9 mm sizes, as "loose ammunition." There was so much of it, he said, investigators couldn't immediately come up with a count.

The suspect, named as Huu Can Tran, 72, also had a Norinco handgun in the van. Luna said the weapon used in the mass shooting was a modified semi-automatic, 9 mm MAC-10, named for its original manufacturer, Military Armament Corp.

The compact gun was named in California's landmark assault weapons ban of 1989, as well as in the federal assault weapons ban of 1994, which expired 10 years later. There are sellers of MAC-10 variants and clones who say their weapon is California-legal.

Luna said Sunday he believed the gun associated with the suspect was illegal in California, but he did not elaborate much Monday, except to describe the firearm as an "assault weapon."

The exact motive in Saturday night's mass shooting in Monterey Park remained a matter of investigation, but law enforcement officials said Monday it appeared to be personal.

Multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said evidence gathered so far seems to rule out terrorism or a hate crime in the dance hall attack, which killed 11 people and injured nine others.

They stressed it's still early in the probe, and they were working on a timeline of events and discovering more about the suspect's background — elements that could help them find a more precise motive.

Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators were still processing evidence found at the home of suspect Huu Can Tran, 72, in Hemet, California, about 86 miles southeast of Monterey Park.

They were also looking at evidence from the van where he died by suicide Sunday afternoon after a police traffic stop in Torrance.

The man credited by authorities with disarming the Monterey Park mass shooter described a gunman with a cold gaze who scanned a second dance hall for more victims.

Speaking to “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” for Monday night's broadcast, Brandon Tsay, 26, said he thought the man's quietude Saturday night at Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio, 2 miles north of the deadly attack in Monterey Park, was odd.

Tsay didn't know at the time that the suspect, later identified as Huu Can Tran, 72, had just shot 20 people at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, an attack in which 11 people have died, authorities said.

"That was the scary part," Tsay told Holt when he was asked whether the man had spoken. "When he came in, he said nothing. His face was very stoic. His expressions were mostly in his eyes — looking around trying to find people, trying to scout the area for other people."

Tsay is a computer coder who also operates the nearby ballroom with relatives, according to The New York Times. He said he thought his death was assured as he watched the man. Then he saw an opening, Tsay said.

The man, he said, started to "prep" his weapon, ostensibly for further bloodshed. The man's attention was focused away from Tsay and others at the venue.

"Something amazing happened," he said, describing the man as distracted. "A miracle actually. It dawned on me that this was the moment to disarm him."

For more on this story watch NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT.

The city of Monterey Park will host a vigil at City Hall at 5:30 p.m. PT Tuesday, it said in a statement Monday.

The vigil will be a place "to honor those who have left us and to give strength to those who survived," the city said.

A memorial for the victims has also been established at Monterey Park City Hall.

“We believe that it is important for our community to come together to remember and heal,” Mayor Henry Lo said in a statement.

A resource center for survivors and community members seeking support has been established at the Langley Senior Center, at 400 W. Emerson Ave., according to information from the city.

Another vigil is planned for Wednesday night at Star Ballroom Dance Studio — the site of the massacre — hosted by a local organization dedicated to stopping anti-Asian violence.

The 72-year-old Monterey Park shooting suspect had twice visited his local police station this month to make decades-old allegations against his family, Hemet police said in a statement Monday afternoon.

The suspect visited Jan. 7 and 9 "alleging past fraud, theft, and poisoning allegations involving his family in the Los Angeles area 10 to 20 years ago," the statement said.

Officials said that the suspect claimed he would return with documentation related to the allegations but that he never did.

The suspect was a resident of Hemet, a city about 85 miles southeast of Monterey Park. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has executed a search warrant on his residence, Hemet police said.

The police department referred further questions to the sheriff's department. A spokesperson said further information was not immediately available.

Politicians and gun control advocates are renewing calls for a nationwide assault weapons ban after California's laws failed to prevent the Monterey Park shooting.

On MSNBC on Sunday night, Varun Nikore, the executive director of the AAPI Victory Alliance, which advocates for electing progressive Asian American and Pacific Islander politicians, said: "We need a ban on assault weapons in this country. I cannot say it more clearly than that."

Also Sunday night, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, tweeted: "No other country in the world is terrorized by this constant stream of gun violence. We need real gun reform at a national level."

The Monterey Park shooting was the 33rd mass shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which characterizes mass shootings as events in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday the weapon authorities recovered at the Alhambra dance hall — where the shooter headed 17 minutes after the Monterey Park massacre, just a few miles away, before an employee disarmed him — was a “semi-automatic assault pistol” with an extended large-capacity magazine attached.

California has the country’s strongest gun laws, according to the gun control advocacy groups Everytown for Gun Safety and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. It bans military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requires background checks for handgun purchases and allows law enforcement to petition for court orders to prevent people in crisis from accessing firearms, according to Everytown.

It is unclear where or how the Monterey Park shooter obtained the weapon recovered in Alhambra.

A total of 11 people have now died as a result of the Monterey Park shooting after a patient at LAC+USC Medical Center "succumbed to their extensive injuries," the hospital said in a statement.

“Our heroic staff at LAC+USC Medical Center have worked tirelessly to care for the four victims entrusted to our care," it said. "Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we are saddened to share that one of the victims has succumbed to their extensive injuries. We want to express our deepest sympathies to their families and loved ones."

One of the three remaining patients at the Los Angeles medical center is in serious condition and two are recovering, the statement said.

“Our medical teams are working around the clock to care for them, and we remain hopeful for their complete recoveries."