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Police Search Home Of Monterey Park Mass Shooting Suspect, Still Looking For Motive

   DailyWire.com
After police tape was taken down, curious bystanders view the crime scene inside the Star Dance Studio Ballroom
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Authorities on Sunday night searched the home of the 72-year-old man suspected of killing 10 and injuring 10 more in a mass shooting Saturday night in Monterey Park, California. The suspect fatally shot himself on Sunday morning.

The man, who will not be named per Daily Wire policy regarding mass shooters, opened fire inside the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in a predominantly Asian community about 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Of those killed, five were men, and five were women, all pronounced dead at the scene, while the 10 wounded were taken to nearby hospitals, their conditions ranging from stable to critical. Seven remain hospitalized.

Multiple law enforcement agencies swarmed the man’s home to execute the search warrant, KTLA 5 reported. It is unclear what exactly police were searching for or what was found.

On Sunday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a press conference that “everything is on the table” when it comes to the motive for the shooting.

“We don’t know if this is specifically a hate crime defined by law, but who walks into a dance hall and guns down 20 people,” Luna said.

The suspect reportedly was a regular at the dance studio he targeted, who at times provided “informal” dance lessons, CNN reported, though it is unclear whether he had been to the studio in recent years. The outlet also noted that the suspect met his ex-wife at the same studio. The suspect reportedly saw her dancing and introduced himself, and the couple married a short time later.

The suspect filed for divorce in 2005, and it was finalized in 2006.

The ex-wife told CNN that the suspect was never violent toward her but was quick to anger. If she missed a step while dancing, he would become angry.

An acquaintance of the suspect also told the outlet that he complained back in the early 2010s that the instructors at the dance studio said “evil things about him” and reportedly didn’t like him. The friend said the suspect was “hostile to a lot of people there.”

The Daily Wire previously reported that half an hour after the Star Ballroom shooting, the suspect attempted to enter a second dance hall, but two people managed to wrestle the gun from him. The suspect fled in a white cargo van. Authorities recovered a pistol from the scene and released a bulletin seeking the public’s help in finding the suspect.

Twelve hours later, police approached a white cargo van 20 miles southwest of Monterey Park, Reuters reported. When officers neared the van, they heard a single gunshot from inside and found the suspect had killed himself.

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