COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thousands of miles away from Monterey Park, California, pain and heartache are felt by many Asian Americans in Columbus, Ohio.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said 72-year-old Huu Can Tran was the gunman that opened fire at a Southern California ballroom dance studio and killed 10 people and injured another 10.
Law enforcement officials swarmed and entered a white van, believed to be the one the suspect was driving.
Officials said he died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Hours after the tragedy happened, 10TV spoke with Yan Sun, a local leader in the Asian American community.
"It's no excuse, “she said, “No clarity or motivation to a massive shooting of innocent people.”
Sun has lived in America for more than 30 years.
"This has hit not only just the California community, but this also hurts all of the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community across the world,” said Sun.
Sun said the shooting happened on what was supposed to be a day of celebration. Sunday was the first day of the year in the Lunar New Year. This year is the year of the rabbit, which is symbolic of peace.
"Maybe some peaceful period of time, it will bring to our life. But this isn’t not happened. the very first day,” she said.
“This country has been very lucid on gun control. This is not happening in some other countries. I'm not saying this couldn't happen anywhere in the world but why in the U.S., we hear this news more and more,” she said.