1/6
Brandon Tsay prevented the gunman from killing more people.
It’s Saturday night at 10:35 p.m. Huu Can T.* († 72) enters the Lai Lai restaurant in Alhambra near Los Angeles. The Chinese New Year celebrations are in full swing here. What nobody knows: T. opened fire a few moments earlier in a ballroom in Monterey Park, four kilometers away, killing ten people – five men and five women.
The computer programmer Brandon Tsay (26) immediately notices that the elderly gentleman has a gun with him. Although he is not a gun owner, he immediately noticed what the perpetrator was aiming for: “Maximum damage”. “His body language, facial expression and eyes said he was looking for people,” Tsay told ABC.
Programmer saves life of partygoers
“I knew I was going to die” – this is how Brandon Tsay describes the moment he pounces on the man “out of a basic instinct”. The young man quick-wittedly grabs the barrel of the gun and begins to wrestle with T.
The fight for the weapon lasts a minute and a half. Tsay is surprised by the older man’s strength, but manages to disarm the gunman when T.’s grip begins to weaken. Tsay then points the gun at T. and shouts: “Come on, get out of here!”. The gunman then flees, Tsay and the party guests at Lai Lai survive. Gun still in hand, he immediately calls the police.
The young man is now celebrated as a hero because he prevented the shooter from killing more people. “It could have been a lot worse,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna confirmed. Can’t imagine what would have happened if Brandon Tsay hadn’t been helping out at the bar that night.
Joe Biden prays for killing spree victims
Huu Can T. is later located by the police in the town of Torrance – about 50 kilometers southwest of Monterey Park. He judges himself as officers approach his van. The motive for the attack is still unclear hours after the fact.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Monterey Park on Saturday to celebrate the Chinese New Year, including Democratic politician Judy Chu (69). The former mayor of the city expressed her horror at the crime on Twitter and expressed her condolences to the victims’ families.
US President Joe Biden (80) ordered a mourning flag. Flags will be flown at half-mast on all public buildings by Thursday. “Jill and I are praying for the dead and injured in last night’s fatal shooting,” Biden wrote in a statement on Twitter. (nad)