Asian Americans in California have reeled after two mass shootings within days that killed 18 members of their community, with the alleged gunmen in both cases being elderly Asian men.
The murders took place within just 48 hours—so close together that California Gov. Gavin Newsom was in a hospital meeting with the victims of the first attack when he was driven away to be briefed on the second.
“They say it all the time: only in America,” a visibly annoyed Newsom told reporters on Tuesday at Half Moon Bay.
“Only in America. No. 1 in gun ownership. No. 1 in gun deaths. It’s not even difficult,” he said.
“What the hell is wrong with us that we let these guns and oversized clips roam the streets and sidewalks?”
Another shooting took place at night in Washington state, where the shooter killed three people in a store, which police said was accidental.
The massacre prompted President Joe Biden to renew calls for Congress to act quickly on an assault weapons ban. A group of senators on Monday reintroduced a federal assault weapons ban and legislation that would raise the minimum age for purchasing assault weapons to 21.
Biden also said he would send Vice President Kamala Harris to California after the shooting.
“Our hearts go out to the people of California,” he said, calling the massacre “devastating.”
Investigators were still investigating the motives behind two incidents that stood out among the scourge of mass shootings in America for both the affected community (gun violence is generally considered rare among Asians and Asian Americans) and the age of the suspects, 67. and 72.
The non-partisan Project Violence reports that 79% of mass shooters from 1966 to 2020 were under 45. According to him, only 6.4% of mass shooters at that time were Asians.
Monday’s bloodshed took place at two farms in Half Moon Bay, a rural coastal community south of San Francisco.
San Mateo County Sheriff Cristina Corpus said Tuesday that five men and two women — a Hispanic-Asian mix — were killed and Half Moon Bay resident Chunli Zhao, 67, was taken into custody.
A semi-automatic pistol was seized.
“The only known link between the victims and the suspect is that they may have been colleagues,” she said.
“All the evidence we have indicates that this was a case of workplace violence.”
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that a former colleague received a restraining order against Zhao for violent behavior.
“Mr. Zhao told me that today I will kill you,” Jingjiu Wang wrote in 2013 when they worked together at a San Jose restaurant.
“Then he took a pillow and started covering my face and choking me.”
The small community of Half Moon Bay struggled to come to terms with the mass shooting on Tuesday.
A singing bowl held by a Buddhist monk was struck once for each of the seven people shot dead as residents gathered to mourn at a local church.
“This is a tragedy and it will happen on New Year’s Day,” Aili Li, whose family owns the China House restaurant, told AFP.
Sophie Lee, who works at Shiki Japanese Cuisine in the city, said the guns are terrible.
“Without a gun, we just argue. But if you have a gun, it gives you more power, and then something will happen,” she said.
“You’re dealing with people who carry guns and you never know what’s going to happen. People were shot at, right?”
Revengeful
This tragedy unfolded as detectives in southern California were still figuring out what prompted 72-year-old Huu Kang Chan to shoot 11 people gathered for Lunar New Year Saturday night at a suburban ballroom.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Tran, who was arrested decades ago for illegal possession of a firearm, fired 42 shots during the Monterey Park attack.
“What prompted the madman to do this?” he said.
Luna-confirmed officers were told that Tran may have known some of his victims.
Information about Tran remained unclear. CNN reported that, according to his marriage certificate, he immigrated from China; The New York Times cited immigration papers stating that he was a naturalized US citizen of Vietnamese origin.
A former friend described Tran as a vindictive loner.
“Two simple words that sum it all up: he is a distrustful person. He does not trust the people around him. The second word is hate. in the Los Angeles Times.
“He said: “Someday I will take revenge on you, take revenge, take revenge.”
“I think his life was so miserable and desperate that he chose this day to commit suicide, and meanwhile he wanted people he didn’t love or hated to go with him,” the man said.
