10 dead in mass shooting in Asian city in California

MONTEREY PARK, AFP: 10 people have died and at least 10 others have been wounded in a mass shooting in a largely Asian city in southern California, police said Sunday, with the suspect still at large hours later.

The gunman opened fire at a dance venue in Monterey Park, as the local community were celebrating Lunar New Year, with witnesses saying he shot indiscriminately with a semiautomatic weapon.

Captain Andrew Meyers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said officers had responded to emergency calls around 10.20 p.m. on Saturday and found people pouring out of the premises. Monterey Park, about eight miles (13 kilometres) east of downtown Los Angeles, is home to around 61,000 people, the majority of them Asian or Asian American.