Another mass killing in California: 7 shot dead in front of children as police probe dance hall massacre

News Network
January 24, 2023

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Half Moon Bay, Jan 24: An Asian farm worker was in custody Monday after seven of his colleagues were killed in front of children at sites in California, days after a mass shooter killed 11 people at a Lunar New Year celebration near Los Angeles.

The latest bloodshed to hit Asian Americans in California occurred at two farms around Half Moon Bay, a coastal community near San Francisco.

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said seven people were killed and one injured in the twin shootings, and that a 67-year-old Half Moon Bay resident named Chunli Zhao had been taken into custody.

As the new tragedy unfolded, detectives at the southern end of the state were still probing what drove an elderly Asian immigrant to shoot dead 11 people gathered in celebration at a suburban dance hall -- before taking his own life as police closed in.

Both suspects used semiautomatic handguns in their assaults, and both appeared to have connections to at least some of their victims.

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said deputies had been dispatched to two nurseries around Half Moon Bay, a rural spot south of San Francisco, mid-afternoon Monday.

Four people were dead at one of them and one critically wounded.

"Shortly thereafter three additional victims were also located deceased with gunshot wounds at a separate shooting scene," she told reporters.

"There's people that live at the location as well... it was in the afternoon when kids were out of school and for children to witnesses it is unspeakable," she said.

Corpus said Zhou then drove to a sheriff's substation in Half Moon Bay where ABC7 crews captured dramatic footage of his arrest as he was pulled to the ground by armed officers.

"Zhao was taken into custody without incident and a semi-automatic handgun was located in his vehicle," Corpus said.

Reports said the dead are Chinese farmworkers, and that Zhao had worked at one of the farms.

News of the fresh carnage came as detectives just a few hundred miles (kilometers) away in Monterey Park were trying to piece together why Huu Can Tran gunned down revellers gathered at a dance studio for Lunar New Year on Saturday night.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday that Tran, who had been arrested in 1994 for unlawful possession of a firearm, fired 42 rounds in the attack.

But, he said, much was still unknown.

"What drove a madman to do this? We don't know. But we intend to find out," he told reporters.

Luna confirmed officers had been told Tran may have been known to some of his victims, but said there was currently no evidence he was related to any.

News of a second mass shooting in California in less then 48 hours spread ripples of shock through the state, which already has some of the strictest firearm laws in the United States.

An exasperated Governor Gavin Newsom, who had earlier Monday been in Monterey Park where he lashed out at federal inaction over guns, called it another "tragedy."

"At the hospital meeting with victims of a mass shooting when I get pulled away to be briefed about another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay. Tragedy upon tragedy," he tweeted.

Saturday night's mass shooting was the worst in the United States since a teenage gunman in Uvalde, Texas killed 21 people at an elementary school last May. All but two were children.

On Monday a picture began to emerge of the culprit in Monterey Park, a man who, according to his marriage license, had immigrated from China, and who had been a regular at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the past.

Tran's ex-wife told CNN the couple had met there two decades ago when he offered to give her informal lessons.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said they married a short time later, but the relationship did not last, with the divorce finalized in 2006.

She said Tran, who sometimes worked as a truck driver, was not violent, but could be impatient.

A man who said he had previously known Tran said he would complain about dance teachers, who, he claimed, would say "evil things about him", CNN reported.

He was "hostile to a lot of people there," the man told the broadcaster.

Detectives who searched a mobile home where Tran had been living in Hemet, 85 miles (140 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, recovered a rifle, electronics and ammunition, Luna said.

Police in the city said earlier this month Tran had made "fraud, theft, and poisoning allegations involving his family in the Los Angeles area 10 to 20 years ago."

The family of 65-year-old My Nhan said the tragedy was "still sinking in."

"She spent so many years going to the dance studio in Monterey Park on weekends," a statement said.

"It's what she loved to do. But unfairly, Saturday was her last dance.

Amid the grief, one tale of heroism has given hope 26-year-old Brandon Tsay revealed how he grappled with Tran as the elderly man arrived at another dance studio, in what police believe was a planned second attack.

"He was hitting me across the face, bashing me in the back of my head, I was trying to use my elbows to get the gun away from him," Tsay told ABC.

"Finally, at one point I was able to pull the gun away from him, shove him aside, create some distance, point the gun at him, intimidate him, shouting, 'Get the hell out here. I'll shoot. Get away. Go.'"

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News Network
March 19,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that the Congress will split in three months after the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and its impact will be visible on the Siddaramaiah-led state government.

"Due to internal squabbles, the state government will not last long," the BJP leader said.

Talking to reporters on Monday, he said the sitting MP from the Gadag-Haveri constituency, Shivakumar Udasi, has done a lot of development work and implemented the Central government's schemes effectively.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will surely become the PM for the third time. The overall response has been good in the Gadag-Haveri Lok Sabha constituency," the former Karnataka chief minister said.

Asked if he was contesting the election in a half-hearted manner in the Gadag-Haveri seat, Bommai said "such a question does not arise when the party's high command gives instructions".

He said he would respect his opponent and not take anyone lightly. 

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News Network
March 18,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 18: The Election Commission on Monday afternoon issued orders for the removal of six Home Secretaries - including the top bureaucrats from Gujarat, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.

The poll panel also directed the transfer of West Bengal's Director-General of Police, the top cop of a state that has seen several instances of poll-related violence in recent years. The poll panel further said a shortlist of three potential replacements had to be prepared and submitted by 5 pm.

The re-shuffle, not an uncommon move by the Election Commission before major polls, also includes the transfer of the Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand Home Secretaries, as well as senior officials attached to the offices of the Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh Chief Ministers.

In addition, Iqbal Singh Chahal, who is Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and other officials in municipalities across Maharashtra, have been removed too.

All of this comes less than a month before the 2024 Lok Sabha poll; the ECI on Saturday said voting will begin on April 19 and run over seven phases till June 1.

This is, in fact, the first bureaucratic re-jig by the ECI since it announced polling dates.

The ECI's move comes after a meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and his two associates, the newly-appointed Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. This step comes as part of the poll panel's commitment to ensure a level playing field for all political parties in the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, as well as by-polls for 26 seats in 13 states.

Sources said the personnel removed were found to be holding dual charge in the offices of the respective chief ministers of each state, and this could compromise, or be seen to be compromising, required neutrality, particularly in relation to law-and-order before, during and after polling.

Bengal's ruling Trinamool has not yet reacted to the removal of DGP Rajiv Malik, who is seen by some to be close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party. In the past, the state government has questioned the last-minute re-shuffle of senior civil service and police officials so close to an election, arguing it actually hampers prep work since the new faces need time to adjust to the post.

Bengal has frequently witnessed violence during polling season; in June last year over a dozen people were killed across the state as voting for a panchayat election was underway.

The Trinamool accused the opposition of instigating violence and criticised central forces for their failure to protect voters, while the Congress claimed the state had let thugs loose on the people.

While announcing the dates on Saturday, the Chief Election Commissioner said the poll panel would take a very dim view of any violence during the election. Mr Kumar said the ECI is prepared to come down hard on any such incident. "We're putting political parties on notice," he declared.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 27: The government has objected strongly to remarks by a US State Department spokesperson on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest last week in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam.

The External Affairs Ministry summoned Gloria Berbena, the US' Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, to a 40-minute meet at its office in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. In a brief statement released shortly afterwards, the MEA warned of "unhealthy precedents and against "unwarranted aspersions".

"States are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others, and this responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents," the External Affairs Ministry said.

"India's legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted," the statement stressed.

On Tuesday the US State Department said it is monitoring reports of Mr Kejriwal's arrest, and called on New Delhi to ensure "a fair and timely legal process" for the jailed Aam Aadmi Party leader.

The US State Department's comments came, in turn, days after Germany's Foreign Office stressed that Mr Kejriwal, like any other Indian citizen facing charges, is entitled to a fair and impartial trial.

The Indian government reacted strongly to the comment, summoning the German envoy and labelling the Foreign Office spokesperson's remark "blatant interference in internal matters".

"We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary," the External Affairs Ministry said, "Biased assumptions are most unwarranted."

Asked about India's protest to Germany, the State Department spokesperson told Reuters, "We refer you to the German Foreign Ministry for comment on their discussions with the Indian government."

Earlier this month the Modi government also took exception to comments by its counterpart on the changes to the citizenship law, calling them out as "misplaced, misinformed, and unwarranted".

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last week in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam that has roiled his AAP and provoked furious protests from the opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Mr Kejriwal was this week sent to jail till March 28.

The Enforcement Directorate believes the now-scrapped liquor policy provided an impossibly high profit margin of 185 per cent for retailers and 12 per cent for wholesalers. Of the latter, six per cent - over ₹ 600 crore - were bribes and the money was allegedly used to fund the AAP's poll campaigns.

The ED has labelled the Chief Minister as a key conspirator in this case, but Mr Kejriwal and party colleagues arrested in this matter - ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and former Health Minister Satyendar Jain - have all denied the charges.

The AAP and the opposition have hit out at the BJP-led central government for using central agencies, like the ED, to target rivals and critics before the general election. The AAP has criticised Mr Kejriwal's arrest on grounds it was timed to interfere with his plans to campaign for the party.

The BJP has dismissed claims it uses central agencies as described by the opposition.

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