At least 10 people killed, several injured in shooting in US' California

It marked 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.

Washington, Jan 22: At least 10 people have been killed in a mass shooting late Saturday in a city east of Los Angeles following a Lunar New Year celebration that attracted thousands.

According to initial reports, more than a dozen people have been injured, including multiple victims who have succumbed to their injuries.

The incident took place after 10 pm around the location of a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration held in Monterey Park. A sea of people had attended the festival earlier in the day, a report in Al Arabiya News said.

🚨#BREAKING: Mass shooting with reports of multiple victims Dead
⁰📌#MontereyPark | #CA

Currently multiple authorities are responding to a mass shooting in Monterey Park with reports of 16 people have been shot with unconfirmed reports 10 fatalities this is still developing pic.twitter.com/4XUwRwaibf

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 22, 2023

The shooter is a male, Boese said early Sunday. It was unclear if he was still being sought, was captured or was among those who had been killed.

Officials provided no information for several hours after dozens of police officers responded to reports of the shooting. Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 residents with a large Asian population about 10 miles (16 kilometres) from downtown Los Angeles.

It marked 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.

The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub. 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 gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him. Choi said he believes the shooting took place at a dance club. Boese did not name the business but said it was in the 120 block of Garvey Ave.

One business along that block is Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where an event called "Star Night" was held from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., according to a calendar on its website.

Wong Wei, who lives nearby, told the Los Angeles Times that his friend was in a bathroom at a dance club that night when the shooting started. When she came out, he said, she saw a gunman and three bodies. The friend then fled to his home at around 11 p.m., Wei said, adding that his friends told him that the shooter appeared to fire indiscriminately with a long gun.

"They don't know why, so they run," he told the newspaper. The shooting occurred near where thousands of people had attended a Lunar New Year celebration. Saturday was the start of the two-day festival, which is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in Southern California.

Videos posted on social media showed people being loaded onto stretchers and placed into ambulances. Other photos showed bloodied and bandaged victims being treated by Monterey Park firefighters in a parking lot.

with PTI inputs