UPDATE: At least 10 people have been killed in a shooting late Saturday following a large Lunar New Year celebration in the east Los Angeles community of Monterey Park, police have confirmed.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the shooting happened at a business on West Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park, and the gunman, who is male, is still at large.
According to multiple media reports, the shooting happened in Monterey Park just after 10 pm following a large Lunar New Year celebration festival, with one witness telling the LA Times that they believed the shooting happened at a local dance club.
LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia, an official in the local Los Angeles government, posted a tweet sharing condolences after the news broke.
“Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones tonight in our neighboring city, Monterey Park, where a mass shooting just occurred,” he tweeted. “Monterey Park is home to one of the largest Asian communities in Los Angeles County, and many were out celebrating the Lunar New Year.”
Many details about the shooting remain unclear. A witness named Seung Won Choi, who owns a restaurant in the vicinity of the shooting, told the LA Times that three people “rushed” into his restaurant and told him to lock his door.
The newspaper continues to report that the people told Choi that there was a shooter with a machine gun and multiple rounds of ammunition in the area.
Earlier in the day, thousands of people had gathered in Monterey Park for the Lunar New Year festival. Saturday was the start of the two-day festival, and it is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in Southern California, AP reported.
The Monterey Park government website says that past Lunar New Year events in Monterey Park have “drawn crowds estimated at over 100,000 visitors per day from all over the Southern California area.”