Suspect in the Monterey Park mass shooting was found dead inside a cargo van with a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a standoff with SWAT team members
- Eleven people were killed and nine were injured in a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, on Saturday night.
- A SWAT team confronted a man inside a white van in Torrance, California, on Sunday afternoon.
A standoff between SWAT members and a man inside a white cargo van who authorities later confirmed was the suspect in a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, ended Sunday afternoon.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a press conference that evening that the suspect was found dead by self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Police vehicles and SWAT team trucks had surrounded a parked van in Torrance, a city southwest of Monterey Park, at around noon local time on Sunday.
According to Luna, the van was spotted leaving a venue in Alhambra, where a gunman had entered a ballroom venue with a "semi-automatic assault pistol" just about 20 minutes after the Saturday night shooting at a Monterey Park dance hall. Community members were able to disarm the gunman before he fled the scene.
Luna confirmed at the press conference that the deceased individual was the suspect in the Monterey Park shooting and the Alhambra incident. Authorities identified the suspect as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran.
Around 12:52 p.m., the sheriff's department's SWAT team cleared the van. A handgun and ammunition were found inside the vehicle, Luna said.
"#LASD SEB SWAT operation for an armed suspect in Torrance has concluded. Neighborhood safe," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Special Enforcement Bureau announced on Twitter.
The shooter remained at large for hours before police and SWAT located the van in a shopping center parking lot. Officers reported hearing a single gunshot from the van, Luna said. The license plate on the van was swapped and believed to be stolen, authorities said.
A motive has not been determined. Luna said the sheriff's department is still investigating if the suspect knew the victims.