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Two people are being credited for disarming the Monterey Park shooter and preventing an attack from taking place at a second location, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
Luna said Huu Can Tran walked into a dance hall in neighboring Alhambra and "some individuals wrestled the firearm away from him" before later being located by police during a manhunt in the city.
"Remember, the suspect went to the Alhambra location after he conducted the shooting (in Monterey Park), and he was disarmed by two community members who I consider to be heroes," Luna said during a news conference Sunday (January 22).
"They saved lives," he added. "This could've been much worse. The weapon that we recovered at that second scene I am describing as a magazine-fed semiautomatic assault pistol. Not an assault rifle, but an assault pistol that had an extended large capacity magazine attached to it."
Ten people were killed and at least 10 others were injured during the shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, which was holding a Lunar New Year celebration in the majority-Asian community, on Saturday (January 21) night.
Tran, 72, may have previously visited visited the Monterey dance hall where the incident took place, according to Mayor Henry Lo.
"We do understand that he may have had history of visiting this dance hall," Lo told the TODAY Show Monday (January 23) morning.
Tran died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being located by authorities during a manhunt, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna announced on Sunday (January 22) via NBC News.
Investigators were probing the background of Tran in an effort to confirm a motive and recovered "several pieces of evidence" linking the 72-year-old both to the Monterey Park scene and the neighboring city of Alhambra, according to Luna.
The Star Ballroom Dance studio announced it had temporarily closed in the wake of the shooting in a statement shared on its Facebook page.
"What should have been a festive night to welcome the first day of the Lunar New Year turned into a tragedy," the statement read. "Our heart goes out to all the victims, survivors, and their families. In this time of healing, we hope that all those who were affected have the space to grieve and process what transpired within the last 24 hours," the statement read.
Monterey Park is located in Los Angeles County and has more than a half-million residents of Asian heritage.