>> lukas graham. mickey guyton, gentlemen. tonight, the people are lying on the ground with their dance shoes on. >> a joyous celebration taking a deadly and tragic turn as a gunman opens fire at a dance hall. we're on the ground in monterey park, california with the victim's survivors and loved ones. >> when i think of her, i hope the takeaway for everyone is be kind. >> as police search for a motive. plus, the hero who confronted the alleged gunman, saving lives. >> he was looking past me into the ballroom. and it seems like he was looking for people to harm. >> fearing for his own life -- >> i needed to grab his weapon. i needed to take control of the situation, or else everybody will die, including me. >> and helping police track down

the suspect. >> had i pointed a gun at him and told him get away, you know, i'm shoot you, get out, go. >> a community still grieving, trying to heal. this special edition of "nightline," "tragedy in the ballroom" will be right back. n n ballroom" will be right that's me before dawn powerwash. soaking, scrubbing...that's life. was life. now, powerwash gives me the power of an overnight soak in minutes. i'm sorry, minutes? with 3 cleaning boosters... not found in traditional dish soaps that help break down, loosen and lift away food and grease... so much faster! tougher mess? let the suds sit a few minutes before wiping. even cleans... the grill! thank you!

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thanks for joining us. we're here in monterey park, california just outside the scene of that deadly lunar new year dance studio shooting where 11 people died, the worst in l.a. county history. yet tonight as we come on the air, news of another mass shooting in northern california. seven people are dead at a mushroom farm at a trucking farm near san jose. tonight a suspect of asian descent is in custody just two days after the shooting here in monterey park. in southern california, this community is still mourning. struggling to find answers. a lunar new year celebration in monterey park, california turned into who are roar horror and heartbreak. >> we have ten unresponsive inside and two in critical condition and breathing. total of 12. >> when the gunman opened fire inside a ballroom dance hall

friday night, 57-year-old shall i was dancing the jive. >> the way he do. just lay down, lay down. lay down. >> her dance partner of 15 years diving under a table with her. >> after that, all my hand is blood. i was like am i got shot? am i got shot? i was thinking. i was yelling too loud, am i got shot? >> reporter: shall i's story just one in a horrible chorus as the gunman left 11 people dead, at least 9 others injured. the suspect, 72-year-old huu can tran, prevented from attacking a second dance studio by a quick-thinking hero. >> i pointed a gun at him and told him get away. >> then leading police on a manhunt, taking his own life, leaving investigators and families in this community to ask why. so what do you love about dance? >> the reason i love about the

dancing because it look like -- instead don't need to go to the gym. >> in los angeles county in between steps of the tango, the cha cha and jitterbug, shali found a beautiful vibrant community. she has done elder care, dealt cards in a casino. now she and her husband work 12 hours a day at donut shop in arcadia. dance a precious escape. so you work hard, long hours and you work many days a week. >> we work seven days a week. >> so tell me, when you went to the party that night, it with was a special lunar new year party. >> yes. >> what was it like inside? >> inside it was like they create everything like balloon and everything. >> about how many people were inside? >> i fear that time is 50 only, 50. everybody left because it's the chinese new year. looked like thanksgiving day. people like to sit at home eating dinner. >> when the chaos began, she couldn't believe what was actually happening.

>> i thought when i hear the boom, boom, boom, it's a -- you know, the -- >> fireworks. >> firework. but the firework like boom and then soft. after that, boom, boom, boom. it's not right. it's not right. later on a lot of people keep running, and then boom, boom, boom. >> shali's adopted hometown, monterey park, widely known as one of the first suburb and chinatowns, a community that's been built up over generations through people sharing their cultures, raising families. >> i've lived here for 37 years, and i know this to be an incredible community, a community that embraces its diversity and has the best chinese food in the world. >> monterey park is actually a very safe city. i've been living here over a dozen years now. there is a lot of older people. they walk down the street go, to the market. a lot of big chinese population. and it's a very safe city. i have no qualms about raising my kids out here.

>> 65% of residents here are asian american, predominantly chinese american. and saturday night was supposed to be a triumphant return to normalcy, the first in-person lunar new year celebration since the beginning of the pandemic. the start of the year of the rabbit. >> in the daytime yesterday, all the way until 9:00 p.m., the lunar new year festival was happening. it was supposed to be a two-day festival, yesterday and today. there were kids on the street, families, balloons, carnival rides, booths, vendors. it was very festive. >> a few hours before the shooting, we were all over there. we were actually at the opening ceremony of the lunar new year festival. and it was a time of such energy and enthusiasm and just this feeling of looking forward to the year and getting out of covid. >> thousands of people enjoying food, music, and performances. after the event wrapped up, people moved to a party inside

nearby star ballroom dance studio, a monterey park staple that's been open for 32 years. the shooter killing the first patron, mymy nhan on her way out of the event in the parking lot. >> so the shooter came up to the driver's side window and shot in? >> yes. the shooter came up on the driver's side window, shot in, and he wasn't wearing any face covering or anything. >> shali was on the dance floor with her long-time dance partner. >> him go, sit down, sit down. and under the table. and he under the table. like together, you understand? >> he was in your arms? >>yeah. together like this. and then i see under the table, because the guy was shooting. and suddenly he stopped and maybe no more. he go outside, come back. >> her dance partner shot in the back in the midst of the pandemonium.

shali says he died in her arms. >> that time i wake up a little bit, i wake up my partner. wake up, wake up. he don't respond at all. and after that, he don't respond at all. and after that, i'm on my hand is blood. i was like am i got shot? am i got shot? i was thinking, i was yelling too loud. am i got shot. >> was i shot? your hands had blood. >> blood. i think the blood is from him. just in my hands. i see him all the time. from now on, i cannot see him no more. he was -- you see this person just yesterday, and then from now on you don't see them no more. >> when police arrived minutes later, the shooter had already fled. >> we've got one more critical, business.immediate inside the - so far you've got five outside. they're being triaged and treated now.

inside 10 doa, two crits. >> authority says the gunman was >> while ems aided victims in monterey park, authorities say the gunman was at a second dance studio in the neighboring town of alhambra. that's when 26-year-old brandon tsay jumped into action, wrestling the gun away from tran. these photos taken from a security camera at lai lai show the fight. by midmorning, police had tracked down a white van with a stolen license plate. after a multi-hour standoff, police determined the driver had died in the car of a self-inflicted wound. >> when officers exited their patrol vehicle to examine the content, they heard one gunshot coming from within the van. and found a stockpile of is hom- ammunition and homemade silencers. authorities are still looking into the suspect's motives and are working to identify the victims and notified next of kin. among the 11 dead, 65-year-old mymy nhan. 57-year-old xiujuan yu.

and 68-year-old valentino alvero. i sat down with mymy's niece. fonda quan. she says her aunt practically raised her. >> she is like a second mother to me. >> this is brutal. what do you think of when you think of your aunt? you said she is a caregiver by nature. >> yeah, yeah, she is just a caregiver by nature. and she turned that into a profession as well on the side. and she is really caring for everyone and anyone. and when i think of her, i hope take away for everyone is just be kind to people. care for people. you don't know what their back story. sometimes a smile, sometimes kind words can make their day. and that's how she lived her life. >> fonda's last moment with her beloved aunt, watching mymy play with her toddler son. >> just reinforcing that she is a really caring person.

and sees me like her own child. she has no children. sees me as her own and her grandchild pretty much. it's really special for someone like that to just be so selfless. >> fonda saying her aunt was charming, sassy, and never missed a saturday night dance. >> she loves it so much that she goes every weekend. pobably for the last 15 to 20 years now. every saturday is her day. she is going to dance, and everything that she has to do, any family thing that needs to be scheduled, she tries to go to both. >> for the lunar new year, the family set up an altar, a way to honor and pray to their ancestors. now that your aunt has joined your ancestors, what prayer would you give her right now? >> keep on dancing. just keep on dancing. >> when this special edition of "nightline" returns, the fight

>> at that time, the first thought was i was going to die. >> the fight to prevent further bloodshed. meet the young man who confronted a killer. >> and something came over me. i had this realization that i needed to grab his weapon. i needed to take control of this situation or else everybody will die, including me. >> how police say his actions saved lives. when "nightline" continues. i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ feel significant symptom relief with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements at 4 weeks. skyrizi is the first and only il-23 inhibitor for crohn's that can deliver both clinical remission and endoscopic improvement. the majority of people on skyrizi achieved long lasting remission at 1 year. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections

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don't settle. get xfinity home internet for just $19.99 a month for 1 year with a free streaming box call, click or visit a store today. "nightline: tragedy in the ballroom" continues. here again juju chang. >> we're in monterey park, california. right behind me you can see the

dance studio, a lifeline for the community. and you're about to meet the hero emerging from that tragedy. how he saved lives and led police to the suspect. monterey park still in mourning tonight after a night of celebration at the star ballroom dance studio turned into terror. we now know the carnage could have been much worse after the first attack. the gunman fled over two miles to the lai lai ballroom in nearby alhambra. and that's where brandon tsay stopped him. >> he was standing there with the weapon, and i was just so taken aback and shook that i froze for a minute, a second. >> police say the brave and decisive actions of the 26-year-old were crucial in stopping more violence. he counted it all with abc's matt rivers in the very location he fought the gunman. >> the shooter starts prepping his weapon, and something came

over me. i had this realization that i needed to grab his weapon. i needed to take control of the situation. >> right. >> or else everybody would die, including me. >> right. >> and maybe the people outside also. so -- >> so what did you do? you came over here and? >> well, his attention was diverted to his weapon. he was -- i think he was trying to prep it or change the firing mode or something, but he was fiddling with it a bit. so what i did is sidestep a bit to have a clear path. and i just started running and lunged at him and grabbed the gun with both my hands. >> brandon says he wrestled the gun out of the shooter's hand after the gunman began hitting him. >> and at this moment, i pointed a gun at him and told him get away, i'm shoot you. i really thought i'm going to have to pull the trigger today. i'm going have to hurt another person.

>> right. >> have to shoot another person. and that was scary. but eventually, he just turned around and walked out the door. >> brandon, whose family owns the lai lai ballroom handed over surveillance footage from the attack to police, a key factor in helping identify the shooter. these two dance studios are both touchstones for the asian american community, places of joy that they believed were safe. >> every saturday night, we come here dancing. and every day morning until evening, there is a lot of world champion teaching ballroom, latin. so it's so safe. we feel so safe. how come what happened? >> that's where the shooting took place? >> yeah. >> the star dance studio in monterey park long a sanctuary for liz yang, a local attorney. tell me about how often you go dancing and what you do when you go. >> i go weekly on monday evenings.

one of my friends invited me to go dance, and i joined last year. and they'll teach us stuff like waltz, fox trot, tango. it's very elegant and classy dances. this is a nice elegant dance place. it's not like a hollywood club, dance club. >> star dance studio was popular stomping ground for so mandd ago immigrants from all over china, taiwan, and southeast asia, bonding on their shared love of music and dancing. >> the ratio of women to men is about three to one. there is definitely a lot more women. women will be on one side. men will be on one side, and we just follow along with the steps. >> and we start with the twist exercise. >> these dance halls capturing attention in 2020 as seen in the documentary "walk, run, cha cha." >> cha cha one, and cha cha one. good. two, three. >> reporter: the oscar-nominated film followed two vietnamese refugees and their reunion on the dance floor 40 years after the vietnam war, rediscovering themselves through ballroom.

>> we're making up for the lost time. >> any senior center or chinese center often has dance classes and social dancing classes. it's also very, very elderly friendly, which i think is an important point to make, which is what makes this so devastating to know that for a lot of elderly or middle aged people, it's a really wonderful way to make friends. >> for eileen chow, the duke university professor always held fond memories of monterey park, a home away from home. >> monterey park is a place where middle class chinese immigrants could then and then later asian immigrants could find a footing, maybe start little business, and find a community that was safe and catered to them. >> the violent attacks on the dance studios, those communal sites of bonding seems especially cruel. >> most people wouldn't connect

asians and ballroom dancing. there is just not enough representation in the media about that. but the reality is ballroom dancing is incredibly popular in asia. a ballroom dance studio is more than a place to learn how to dance. it's a place for people to connect, find belonging, find community, and especially for our asian immigrant communities, that is so important. >> marissa hamamoto is a professional ballroom and salsa dancer, who visited the studios to practice there. tonight back at star on a somber note. >> ballroom dance studios are supposed to be a safe, safe place for people to move, people to be. this might feel contradictory, but the best way to heal through this trauma is to dance, and to dance with a full heart. and if you've never tried ballroom dancing before, now is the chance to try it and experience the magic. >> we'll be right back.

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finally tonight, so many in this community say it's important to keep dancing, keep celebrating life. you know, we've heard over and over that monterey park is a community of immigrants, many of whom fled wars and suffered hardships in pursuit of the american dream. they've already overcome so much, and the start of the lunar new year, this year of the rabbit is all about rebirth and renewal. we pray to our ancestors for an auspicious new year, and that is no doubt what this community is praying for tonight. from monterey park, california,

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