Monterey Park: Several people shot near Los Angeles - reports
What is Monterey Park
Early history
For at least seven thousand years the land was populated by the Tongva (Gabrielino) Native Americans. The Tongva lived in dome like structures with thatched exteriors, an open smoke hole for ventilation and light at the top. Both sexes wore long hair styles and tattooed their bodies. During warm weather the men wore few clothes but the women would wear minimal skirts made of animal hides. During the cold weather they would wear animal skin capes and occasionally wore sandals made from hide of yucca fiber.[ With the arrival of the Spaniards, Old World diseases killed off many of the Tongva, and by 1870 very few Native-Americans had survived. In the early 19th century the area was part of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel mission system and later, the Rancho San Antonio.
Local government
The city of Monterey Park has its own police and fire departments serving the city.
Monterey Park City Municipal Elections were held every two years in odd numbered years, on the first Tuesday in March until the 2017 election. Effective with the 2020 California Primary election, City Council elections will be held on even-numbered years on a Tuesday after the first Monday in March. Five Council Members serve four year terms with overlapping terms in bi-annual elections: the three seats elected in one election and two seats in the next election, at which time the City Clerk and City Treasurer are also elected.[
The current elected officials are:
- Yvonne Yiu, Mayor
- Henry Lo, Mayor Pro Tem
- Fred Sornoso, Council Member
- Hans Liang, Council Member
- Peter Chan, Council Member
- Vincent D. Chang, City Clerk
- Joseph Leon, City Treasurer
Police in California are responding to a shooting that has left several people injured, according to US media reports.
The incident happened in Monterey Park, located about eight miles (13km) east of Los Angeles, after 22:00 local time on Saturday (06:00 GMT on Sunday).
Thousands of people had earlier gathered in the city for the Monterey Park Lunar New Year festival.
It is not clear yet how many people were shot or whether anyone has died.
Police have not commented on the shooting and it is not known whether a suspect is in custody.
Videos on social media showed a large police presence in the area.
An eyewitness told the Los Angeles Times 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.
The annual Lunar New Year festival is a weekend-long event that has previously drawn crowds of more than 100,000 visitors.
Saturday night's festivities were scheduled to end at 21:00 local time.
Monterey Park has a population of about 60,000 people and is home to a large Asian community.
Nine people were killed and others hurt when a gunman opened fire in Monterey Park on Saturday night, according to a law enforcement sources and witnesses.
The shooting occurred at a dance studio on Garvey Avenue sometime after 10 p.m., according to several witnesses.
Seung Won Choi, who owns a seafood barbecue restaurant on Garvey Avenue across from where the shooting happened, said three people rushed into his restaurant and told him to lock the door.
They said there was a man with a semiautomatic gun in the area. The shooter, they said, had multiple rounds of ammunition on him, so that once his ammunition ran out he reloaded, Choi said.
Wong Wei, who lives nearby, said his friend had gone to the dance club that night with a few of her friends. His friend was in the bathroom when the shooting started.
When she came out, he said, she saw a gunman and three bodies — two women and one person who he said was the boss of the club, Wei said. He said his friend escaped to his home around 11 p.m.
The shooter was carrying a long gun and appeared to fire indiscriminately, his friends told him.
“They don’t know why, so they run,” he said.
The shooting occurred near the site of a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration. Tens of thousands had gathered Saturday for the start of a two-day festival, one of the largest Lunar New Year events in the region.
Earlier in the day, crowds were enjoying skewers and shopping for Chinese food and jewelry. Saturday’s New Year festival hours were scheduled from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
John, 27, who declined to give his last name, lives near the shooting site. He got home around 10 p.m. and heard about 4 or 5 gunshots, he said. Then he heard police cruisers “smashing” down the street. He went downstairs at around 11:20 p.m. to see if the shooting occurred at the New Year festival.
“My first concern was I know they’re having a Lunar New Year celebration,” he said. But he said he saw that the festival had already been cleaned up for the day when he arrived. He went to the scene of the shooting and saw one person being put on a stretcher. Another person had a bandage on their arm.
Video on social media showed police and fire units swarming an area on Garvey Avenue and treating victims.
Injured people were taken to multiple hospitals in the area.
It was unclear if a suspect was in custody.
The violence left many in the area stunned.
Edwin Chen, a 47-year-old delivery dispatcher, rushed over from Woodland Hills to Monterey Park around 12:30 a.m. after hearing the news. Chen grew up in the area, he said, and about a dozen of his relatives and friends live there.
He said he was saddened this happened just as the community was celebrating Lunar New Year.
“This is [supposed to be] a happy time,” he said. “I want to find out as much as possible. It’s still shocking.”
“Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones tonight in our neighboring city, Monterey Park, where a mass shooting just occurred,” Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia, the first Asian American to hold citywide office in L.A., said in a tweet.
Monterey Park, a city of 61,000 in the San Gabriel Valley, has a majority Asian American population. Located east of Los Angeles, the suburb is 65% Asian American, 27% Latino, and 6% white, according to census data.
One of the anchor suburbs in the San Gabriel Valley, Monterey Park is a hub of Asian American supermarkets and restaurants.
Source:www.latimes.com
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