Gun violence is a American cultural thing that will contiune…
In the past 72 hours, California has been racked by back-to-back mass shootings, leaving at least 18 people dead, along with one of the suspected gunmen.
But the horror of the attacks was not limited to the toll, or the speed with which one unfurled after the other.
Californians were struggling to grapple with the specifics and the timing of the shootings. The suspects in both attacks were older Asian men, whose age and ethnicity have been rare in mass shootings. And the victims were Asian and Asian American, many who were still celebrating the Lunar New Year.
The first attack — on Saturday night in Monterey Park — caused the deaths of 11 people and injured at least nine at a once joyous dance hall. The suspect, a 72-year-old named Huu Can Tran, was a former volunteer dance instructor there.
Many of the victims were Asians and Asian Americans in their 50s and 60s. They had gone to Star Ballroom Dance Studio to celebrate the holidays with a night of music and dancing. Until the gunshots rang out. Alongside the 11 who died, eight people were wounded…..