9 killed in mass shooting near LA after Lunar New Year festival

MONTEREY PARK, California — Nine people were killed in a mass shooting late Saturday in a city east of Los Angeles following a Lunar New Year celebration that attracted thousands, police say.

Sgt. Bob Boese of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says the shooting occurred at a business on Garvey Ave. in Monterey Park. The shooter is a male, Boese says early Sunday.

Officials provide no information for several hours after dozens of police officers had responded to reports of the shooting.

Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people with a large Asian population that’s about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles.

Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, tells the Los Angles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door.

The people also told Choi that there was a shooter with a machine gun who had multiple rounds of ammunition on him so he could reload. Choi says he believes the shooting took place at a dance club.

The newspaper reports that the shooting happened after 10 p.m.