10 killed in California shooting, search launched for gunman

Los Angeles, Jan 22 (IANS) At least 10 people were killed, and another 10 injured, in a shooting on Saturday night in California’s Monterey Park city, where thousands of people had gathered for the Lunar New Year festival, as per local police, reports said.

The incident happened at around 10.20 p.m. local time on Saturday (11.50 a.m. on Sunday IST).

“Last night, at approximately 22:22 (local time) officers from the Monterey Park police department responded to a local business (on) West Garvey Avenue in the city of Monterey Park regarding a shots fired call.

“When officers arrived on scene they arrived numerous individuals – patrons of the location – pouring out of the location screaming.

“The officers made entry to the location and located additional victims. The Monterey Park police (and) fire department responded to the scene and treated the injured and pronounced ten of the victims deceased at the scene,” Captain Andrew Meyer of the LA Country Sheriff’s department said, the BBC reported.

“There were at least ten additional victims that were transported to numerous local hospitals and were listed in various conditions, from stable to critical,” he added.

“The suspect fled the scene and remains outstanding,” Meyer said.

The city, located around 13 km east of Los Angeles, is said to have a large Asian population.

The Los Angeles Times cited an eyewitness as saying that three people ran into his restaurant and told him to lock the door as there was a man with a machine gun in the area.