tv The Mehdi Hasan Show MSNBC January 22, 2023 5:00pm-6:00pm PST
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is one of the least resource community in united states. less than i think 3% of all philanthropic dollars actually go to aapi communities. when traumas like this happen, we're already sort of short staffed, and under-resourced, and so, it adds to the level of trauma. because when you're trying to provide resources to the community, we are trying to activate a community. when you're trying to keep them engaged, specifically, and the resources just aren't there. it makes you wonder whether this america, that we fought so hard, and so long to try and belong to. we will ever have its seat at the table. >> truly profound question. varun nikore, thank you so much for your time. tonight that's it for american voices, i'm alicia menendez, follow this breaking story in
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this press conference i handed over to mehdi hassan. hello alicia. a horrific day of breaking news. the worst kind of breaking news. we are now waiting for police preface conference on the shooting in california. that is going to be a very important press conference, is it not? >> it is going to be a very important press conference. a lot of big questions, still outstanding. many of course, the question of public safety. you heard representative chu saying she had people coming up to her all day saying can i send my kids to school? can i go to another event that is there, trying to reassure them. then of course questions about motive, what was it that was driving the suspect here to commit this horrific act. and then there is still a lot we don't know, matty, about the victims. we know that there are ten people dead, five were men five are women, we know that there are going to be ten more injured. but beyond that a lot of questions. >> we don't know enough about the victims. we don't know enough but the
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shooter, we don't know enough about the weapon. we have we do know is that this kind of violence has become all too common in america. and i know, alicia, you are a parent like me. when this stuff happens, you and i are journalists, you talk to our family members. we talk to our friends. i have to talk in a whisper, so my kids don't hear. i don't want them to hear the stuff. >> you don't want them to hear it and yet you know that you send them to school where they practice active shooter drills once a month because this is the reality of living and racing children in the united states. >> it is a tragic reality that needs to change. and i hope some of our journalism can remind the public that this has to change. and that is why we are sticking with the story. alicia, have a great rescuer night. a very sad day for our country. >> thank you mehdi. >> tonight, on the medicine show, breaking news as we just discussed, we are moments away from a police press conference on the california shooting that took place at a lunar new year celebration. we will have live reports on the ground and we will also speak with freshman congressman
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maxwell frost who served at the first national organizing director for march for our lives. that, and much more ahead on the show tonight. and as we await that press conference, as i was saying, press conferences coming, let us go right into our coverage of this mass shooting in monterrey park, california. that left ten people dead. nbc news correspondent kathy park joins me now from the scene. kathy, we are waiting for this press conference but what do we know so far? >> well 98, there are certainly a lot of questions that need to be answered at this moment but i can tell you right now that this mass shooting has sent shockwaves throughout this community. quite frankly, all of us across the country, we will backtrack a bit and give you a bit more about how we get to this point. so we are told by authorities that the mass shooting took place right before 10:30 last
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night as lunar new year celebrations were actually wrapping up in this area and authorities are saying that the gunman charged into a dance hall and began firing indiscriminately. then just a few moments later, reports of another incident in alhambra, which is just a few minutes away from here but we are told that the gunman, there were guests there that were able to disarm the suspect unable to take the weapon away. this sparked the massive manhunt which lasted for several hours, and then there was another location that they zeroed in on that was towards california. just a few moments ago we know that authorities were able to breach a white van and it happened to match the description of the white van that witnesses were describing that were linked to this crime scene. so authorities were able to breach the van and then when they got inside, we learned that the individual was deceased. self inflicted gunshot wound. but right now, the big question
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is, who is the suspect? right now we don't have confirmation that this individual was linked back to this crime. going back to the death toll, at least ten dead, ten others injured. the injuries ranged from severe to critical at this time but this is a community, a largely asian community. 60,000 live in monterrey park proper. but roughly 65% of the population is of asian descent. this is a big event this week. the lunar new year celebration, we are told that tens of thousands of people are here for the celebration. obviously that was shattered when this shooting took place. so events were canceled today. obviously because of this ongoing investigation that has been the crowds, the crowds have been replaced by a heavy law enforcement presence as well as a growing memorial for the victims. we know that the resource center has been established
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here on the ground, that the community can turn to. also, the victims families can turn to for support. obviously, because this has certainly been a difficult time for them. as well as this entire community, but once again we are standing by for this press conference and hopefully we will get more information on the individual that they found in that white van and get some confirmation on that end. mattie. >> it is shocking, kathy. when we talk about people disarming shooter. i mean, that is becoming all too common in response to some of these incidents. we have had so many mass shootings in 2022. people talked about ordinary americans having to show bravery in disarming a shooter, something you shouldn't have to do, something people in other countries don't have to do. can i ask, you have mentioned the asian american community, what evidence do we have -- that this might have been motivated as a hate crime, that it might have had something to do with hate or bigotry. obviously asian communities have had to live with eight grams and shootings in recent
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years. >> yeah. obviously, this comes on the heels of a lot of attacks on asian americans, especially during the pandemic. and this was a lot of the questions that reporters had here on the ground. everything is on the table, at this point. we do have, we do know according to officials that the suspect's mail and is of asian descent but right now we don't have a motive in that certainly is the big question at this point. there are a lot of rumors that are circulating -- it has not been confirmed so hopefully the next few minutes we will get some confirmation from the authorities. >> and you mentioned ten dead. ted in the hospital. do you know what the situation is with the victims to survive but they are seriously injured? >> at last check, we know that some individuals are still in critical condition. but we still don't know a lot about the victims at this point. we know five women are deceased, as well as five man. the others, who are wounded, aside from their condition we
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know some of them are in critical diminution. earlier this afternoon officials were saying that it was between stable and critical. so hopefully we'll will get an update on their condition as well. >> nbc's kathy park, thank you for your reporting. let us continue our coverage of this horrific mass shooting in california. joining me now to discuss is msnbc legal analyst and former federal prosecutor carroll lam. she is also former u.s. attorney for the southern district of california and former superior court judge in that state. and carmen best, former seattle piece chief and msnbc former law enforcement analyst, joins us as well. can i ask you both, carol first, just your initial reaction to waking up to this news today. >> it is a terrible thing when you wake up to news like this and you think well, there is another one. and it is less of a surprise than one would hope that your reaction would be because we have seen it so frequently. my initial reaction is that it
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is one of frustration. because there are so few tools that we have to prevent this kind of tragedy and there is a second amendment production for firearm possession and the two sides have really driven the other side into -- there's very little ability to reach across the aisle now and come up with a dissuasion that can prevent these kinds of tragedies. you have situations where -- particularly in urban areas, because now as -- people without -- has assessed to them and it is just really really tragic that we can't come up with access legislation that could be consistent with the second amendment and prevent this kind of -- event >> we can come up with the legislation. just one half of our congress
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doesn't want to vote for it. carmen, let me ask you this, when confronted with a mass shooting like this and also the shooter is killed in this incident and in this case this shooter goes on the run, what kind of challenges that for local law enforcement? we are still waiting for the l.a. county sheriff press conference that is about to start. we will hear more answers we hope from law enforcement on the ground, but in your experience what kind of channel inches that for a local enforcement? >> it is very challenging. in the circumstances. certainly the -- identify and locate the suspect, because -- and the longer the tunnel offices, the -- if that is the case, or they have gone underground somewhere so we know this particular -- may or may not be the suspect,
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hopefully we will get more clearly on that were and we hear from the sheriff's office. but you know, the main priority is trying to locate this person and keep the rest of the citizens safe. it is very sad that we have ten lives lost and ten more people injured. it is always very sad, with so many of these mass shootings it is not shocking. law enforcement i think at every corner of the country has been prepared so that this can occur any large gathering. this one happens to be the lunar new year. not sure if there is a bias or hate crime involved in this, that certainly is a consideration as well. >> and carol, there is a sense, we talked about what can legislation do. what can politicians do. from your perspective of having been a judge, is there anything in the judicial system that can
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do here? often in these cases the mass shooter ends up dead. we talk about so much in this country about crime, about public security, safety. we just had midterm election that revolved around crime and safety. and yet, how do you keep people safe from mass shooters? how do you keep people in america just not stressed out by the idea that no place is safe in public anymore? kind of a lunar new year celebration gathering at a ballroom in california? hit by a mass shooter. >> i don't have the answer to last question, in all honesty. i will say that the judicial system is typically set up that you can handle crime after it has been committed. there isn't as much of an opportunity to prevent crime as one might hope within the judicial system. but there are efforts, in many of the state courts, and i think a really good effort and i think they reach out further into the social fabric, they set up diversion courts where people are given a second chance but they are monitor during that period of time.
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it is a closer, more available sort of resource for people that are red headed in the wrong direction, but -- supervision over these people on a weekly basis where they check in with those folks. i think those are programs that, i think a really important, because it gets you away from the sort of, very brief contact with the judicial system where you either go to jail or you don't go to jail, you go to prison or you don't go to prison and it makes it more supervised really look. the other think i think is really important is is the law enforcement presence in the community. people of the same backgrounds and the people who they are in the communities with so they get to know those people, and those folks in the community come to trust the officers and they can talk to them more about problems they are seeing in the communities or things that are going wrong. and i think those are really important outreach is that we
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see with a lot of law enforcement communities, think that is very productive. >> so, just to pick up on that comment, carmen, talking about law enforcement in communities. i have to ask, a lot of people in this country assumed the police are small -- conservative in america. tough on crime, et cetera, et cetera. my understanding, correct me if i'm wrong is a, lot of rain king file law enforcement personnel are not happy with the way our gun laws work in this country. it makes the lies a plot lease officers much harder. >> absolutely, officers expect, generally speaking, the second men right to bear arms but they do believe in parameters, as does most of the country around who can have those firearms in terms of -- the access to weapons but that is a great concern of law enforcement because the last thing you want, as a chief i felt this way, it was for my officers to be, held back in a
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situation. so you definitely want some parameters around it, while the -- will vary, generally speaking most people want some kinds of law or legislation and oversight for people who are allowed to carry firearms. >> carmen, we don't know yet, we are going to find out from this press conference will try and told will be steady starting shortly, we don't know the details of what exact weapon will was used in this horrific massacre. i do remember the reporting after -- ten people killed, the most deadly mass shooting since you've all day texas last may, when those poor innocent kids were gunned down. some of the reporting after uvalde suggested that the police didn't want to engage with this shooter, because of the weaponry that shooter had. that is bizarre. i am from the uk, i'm un-american now but i am a british immigrant. i can't imagine in other countries, line enforcement being outgunned by a criminal,
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by one criminal in a public place. >> well, a couple of things, that can't happen -- [inaudible] especially since columbine, officers go in. they go in immediately and try to take out the threat. because [inaudible] they certainly are outnumbered by the one person -- so, uvalde was a unique situation, the training that has happened ever since columbine has been that officers immediately go into those types of scenarios. so it is rather surprising and disappointing that that did not happen in that particular case. >> carol, i've got to ask. you are not just a former dea and former judge. you are also asian americans. i was just having this conversation a moment ago. we don't know the motivations
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involved here. we were told the suspect was a nation male. what does it feel like, i wonder, for asian communities, in california one's happens on lunar new year celebration, when so many people are gather together for joy as public community event? >> this is the tension in the country now. i would have to confess that i have changed my behavior. i don't go on public transportation when i otherwise would have. i stay way from large crowds. i'm not a spring chicken anymore and when, you become, when you've yourself as a potential target you take yourself out of situations where you might become a target. and i have more luxury to do that than a lot of people do. and, i think that is a real tragedy, i think this is a country that is supposed to be welcoming to all and when we can't do that because of things like this it is just a
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situation that is out of control right now. >> it is definitely under control. it is very sad to hear that you have changed your own behavior but that is the reality for of american 2023 with gun violence and perhaps we, don't know if this was a hate crime but certainly, with the rise in hate crimes we have seen nationwide in recent years. carmen best and caroline, we appreciate it. please stick around for the rest of the hour because we are still waiting for the press conference by police in california, in monterrey park, we will be right back after a very short break. do not go away. ot go away engineered to elevate the senses... touch, sight, sound, and scent. it's the electric that recharges you. the all new, all electric eqe sedan from mercedes-benz.
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where the l.a. county sheriff's department is holding a press conference on the shooting. >> it has been a very challenging day. so let me give you what i believe will be the last update of the day and then after this this week i will come back up to answer any questions you may have. earlier today the sheriff's homicide investigators working alongside all of our law enforcement partners were able to confirm the identity of the male inside the white cargo van, as the suspect in the mass shooting that we had in monterrey park. based on the previous information relayed by homicide investigators regarding the white van involved, and seeing leaving the scene of the
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incident -- in the city of alhambra valley, the torrance police department was notified and at 10:20 a&m the torrents police, torrents police officers located the white man matching the description near the area of supposed a boulevard and hawthorne boulevard. as torrents offices pulled behind the vehicle, the white men entered a shopping center parking lot. when officers exited the patrol vehicle, to contact the occupant, they heard one gunshot. coming from within the van. officers treated and requested several tactical teams to respond to armored vehicles responded and were able to restrict the vans movement. at 12:52 pm, our sheriff swat team approached and cleared the van and determine the suspect sustained a self inflicted
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gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene. >> investigators conducted a search of the vehicle and determined that the male inside the van was the mass shooting suspect. during the search, several pieces of evidence were found inside the van, linking the suspect to both locations. in monterrey park and alhambra. in addition, a handgun was discovered inside the van. the suspect has been identified as who can train. the way that it spelled is h u you, middle name cnn, last name t r a n. he is a 72-year-old male asian. i can confirm that there are no
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outstanding suspects. from the mass shooting incident that occurred in the city of monterey park. although that closes a portion of a very long day for all of us, the investigation is still ongoing. sheriff's homicide detectives are working around the clock gathering additional information and working on determining the motive behind this extremely tragic event. i would like to thank chief weiss and the monterey park police department, the federal vero of investigation, the alcohol tobacco and firearms, california governor's office of emergency services, the united state department of justice, the torrance police department,
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the district attorney's office, the supervisor hill just elisa who has been with us for the previous presses, and the surrounding law enforcement agencies. additionally, we are giving thanks to the monterey park fire department for their lifesaving measures. i was informed before coming out here we still have seven people, seven victims who are hospitalized. and i am sure that the work of our firefighters and police officers contributed to saving these peoples lives. so as i stand up here i am very proud, really of all of us, the community, all of you in the media. i could say we did this together. we really did. and when there is tragedy we
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have to lean on each other. and that is what we did. but before i walk off and turn it over to the next speaker, when i got here and i saw, and i told you this morning to look in the eyes of the homicide investigators and all of their staff, you could just tell they were going to get this guy. and although i couldn't talk in detail about that earlier today, i am very proud of captain andy mayer and the whole entire homicide bureau who not only got us to this point, but there is a lot of work and investigation to be done. and just real quick, before i turn it over to the next one speaker, you have been asking me about motive. we still are not clear on the motive. the investigation continues. and that is something we are all extremely, we want to know. we want to know how something
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like this, something this awful can happen. also, in regards to the weapons. there was a handgun, described that was it in the van with the suspect. the weapon that was recovered from the al hamburg location, in which remember, the suspect went to the alhambra valley case shin after he conducted the shooting and he was disarmed by two community members who i consider to be heroes. they saved lives. this could have been much worse. the weapon that we recovered at that second scene, i am describing as a magazine fed semiautomatic assault pistol. not an assault rifle but an assault pistol that had an extended, large capacity magazine attached to it. and that is the pistol that was
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recovered at the location illa and alhambra. so with that, i will come back up for questions after the rest of our partners behind me speak. so i will turn out to the next speaker. thank you. >> i am congresswoman judy chu and i represent monterey park. i want to give my enormous thanks and gratitude to law enforcement for finding this shooter. all this afternoon, the community was in fear. thinking that they should not go to any events because there was a active shooter. but line forsman came out and they were able to find the shooter with not even 24 hours passing. so i really have to think l.a.
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county sheriffs and thank you so much sheriff luna. sheriff luna, please, a big round of applause. i want to thank our monterey park police department and police chief, scott weese for keeping us safe in this community. i want to thank the torrents police department for identifying the suspect and ultimately making sure that he was caught. and i want to thank all who have come together today from the national level, to the local level, our local city council which has been amazing but also i got calls today from the white house, from the secretary of homeland security, alejandro mann york us and former mayor, karen bass. all except express concerns and offered their resources to us
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to make sure that we could end this terrible situation. i still have questions in my mind. which is, what was the motive for this shooter? did he have mental illness? was he a domestic violence abuser? how did he get these guns? and was it through legal means or not? well, those questions will have to be answered in the future. but what i want to do here is to say to the community, feel safe. you are no longer in danger. because this shooter has gone. and so i told you this morning i have lived in the city for 37 years and i was mayor and city council member at one time i said that this community is
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ruth villemont and what i saw today and what i see at this moment is indeed we are resilient and we are stronger together. look [applause] >> hello, i am state senator susan ruth pell. i represent the city of monterey park. i want to start by offering condolences to all the families that are today destroyed and trying to find a way to keep moving forward with such a loss. i want to also commend those two individuals that tackled the gun away from the second incident because we would be standing here with a lot more tragedies so i want to thank those two individuals and we hope to honor them at some point in the near future. but i also want to command our public safety from our local police, to our sheriff luna and everyone who did what needed to be done to ensure that we bring
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safety back into our community. so as you heard, congresswoman expressed, we want to make sure community knows it is still a safe community. so thank you to all of those that were working really diligently to ensure that we capture the individual responsible for the senseless acts of violence. we need to continue to condemn any type of violence. it has no place in our communities. i want to also praise first responders for their quick action and those the local hospital taking care of the victims. so please i ask all of you also to take a moment to think of the teachers. i was a teacher for 17 years and i was in the classroom many times were i had to be the one offering condolences and comfort to those children that were coming into my classrooms. it was my job to answer questions when they were confused and they needed answers so to all those that have children in schools, say
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thank you to your teachers because they are going to have to deal with this tragedy. it is not over even though we know that it is a safe community, we cannot change the heart and mind of those kids that are right now feeling uneasy, scared, unsure. so please support our local teachers, they have a tough job ahead of them. and to our local city council, our mayor henry loan in the rest of the council, we they have been tremendously proactive in trying to itch ensure community feel safe, that the city has what it needs in terms of resources for the trauma of all of the families that are now left behind in such devastation. and so to all of the community that was here earlier, praying for all of the victims and for their leaders, thank you to the coalition of clergy who came earlier today. we want to say thank you for your comfort, for your prayers and let's continue to pray. we are here to support.
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one last thing i want to share, or early on the mayor, i'm sorry the governor -- called every single member of the legislature called and each one of them offered their support. i want to think of my colleagues, governor, lieutenant governor and anyone who called and offered prayers and support and we will put all of our resources necessary to make sure our community knows they are going to be taken care of. thank you. what >> good evening. i -- am thank you so much to sheriff luna, chief weiss and all the local law enforcement and federal partners for their leadership in efforts. and funding the shooter. during the time of celebration, the lunar new year, when families gather together, our community has faced a tragedy incident.
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what -- sad and horrible. for those seeking assistance and trauma relief please vanish the langley center -- thank you to mary low and the city council for their leadership and efforts. and thank you to the governor and office of emergency services for their leadership in efforts and coordinating the emergency response and for enhancing security here in monterrey park. this has been a very challenging time. as you heard from our congresswoman and senator, monterrey park is strong. monterey park is resilient and to the gather we will get through these challenging times together. at this time i'd like to introduce monterrey park mayor henry lowe. >> think you very much. i want to thank sheriff luna who and the department for helping us seek justice today. this is a tragedy that has occurred and i want to thank
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our own police department, many of whose officers have been -- 24 hours. thank you chief for all of the personnel and the department for your dedication in making sure that justice was brought forward word i want to thank our fire chief matt halleck and the personnel the, fire department who provided aid to those who have fallen. working alongside our local, state and federal partners to investigate this horrific event, we are able to say that justice has been done. thanks to everyone working together but we also know that this is just the beginning and a noma unimaginable tragedy has occurred here in the monterey park during weekend when we are celebrating the lunar new year. and at a time when people come together for, just in time and
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families, with friends and the purpose of those who gathered at the dance hall last night. but tragically, someone decided to express violence and violence has no place in our society. and so at this moment our community, moving forward, i priority is to make sure that those victims were, their family members are given the assistance they need to heal and to heal from the trauma and the community is also, knowing that we will need to move forward, long process of healing the community so that we can together overcome this tragedy but i have faith that we will be able to because, as you have heard from both the comments that i've given, i think everyone from chief luna
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to the state senator. -- mike fong, everyone from the federal government, the state government, the county, our friends in neighboring cities, the region, for coming together to offer condolences, to offer their support. and we will we will, we'll get over this. to my friend, to all residents of monterey park, ours is a community that has looked in the face of the covid pandemic, during the last few years of the pandemic we had some of the highest rates of vaccination and some of the lowest rates of infection and it is because we came together to help each other to overcome this crisis. we had -- created food bank, we had people who offered assistance to adults in need and that is really the monterey park spirit. the people who make up this great city, a city that is diverse and has welcomed waves
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of people, families from around the world to call this place home. that is why many people love to live here in monterrey park and i have confidence, i have confidence that we will get over this crisis because we must and we will only do so if we do it together as a community. because remember, we are all in this together. again i, just have to reiterate the admiration we have for our own police department and fire department. we they reacted so quickly to this crisis. and really activated its procedures to also tap into the resources, the partnership that was needed to essentially be able to bring us this moment and my friends, we do have a long road ahead of us but i hope, i hope that all of you who are here gather today, those in the press, those in the community, those who have been offering their support as
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individuals, as organizations, about how we can help monterey park. the road is just a journey that is just beginning. we hope that we will continue to be on this road together, to heal and ultimately triumph over evil and adversity. thank you very much. now, scott we's. thank you mister mayor. thank you everybody. tonight is the lunar new year. and, we would be celebrating that tonight but obviously we can't the officers that were there tonight are just coming back on duty right now. they are upstairs and briefing. when i get done talking to here i will go back upstairs and make sure that my officers are mindful of what took place, and that they are in a good place tonight because their wellness means a lot to me and the only way that they are going to protect this community is if they are mentally prepared to do so. that is where i will be going
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after this. i want to thank sheriff luna and the partnerships with the sheriff's department and all of our federal, state and local partners. we couldn't have done this without their help. i want to thank the torrents police department for being so vigilant, to spot this vehicle. thank you very much. we have a long way to go to heal this community. the police department here in monterrey park will be present every moment of the day from this point on to make sure that this community remain safe. that is our commitment to everybody here and we will continue to do that into the future. i would like to open it up for any questions. >> [inaudible] >> when we got to the van, it did have different plates. so, i am assuming they were stolen, they weren't the plates that were on the van. >> [inaudible] >> it was something similar to that.
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and, that is again something, part of the partnerships with all of the agencies. some of the process we used to catch a very dangerous person, and get them off the streets. >> [inaudible] i want to ask you something that could play a role in that, you have any indication that the suspect is now dead, any of the victims, didn't he know any of them? >> we are still looking into that. that is part of what the homicide detectives are investigating. please keep in mind that especially with the deceased victims, the coroner's office retrieved the remains not that long ago. they are still in the process of identifying them. there is a lot of work that still needs to be done to answer a lot of questions that all of us have.
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>> [inaudible] >> crime violence needs to stop. there is too much of it. we are all standing here tonight because an individual took a weapon and did the damage that we have talked about, without repeating it. i think all of us need to take some ownership there. i think we really need to go back and look at what we do. california has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. and yet look at what we just had today. so, let's look at across our
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nation and see what works and what doesn't. i can tell you this, the status quo is not working so we need to re-examine what we are doing and what may work better and i hope that this tragedy doesn't just go on a long list of many others that we don't even talk about until the next one comes up. >> [inaudible] >> we are still in the process of identifying all the victims. we will have that information as the days go on. >> [inaudible] have you contacted nests of kenyette sir? >> i heard something on my right here that said something like, ages of the victims. the ages of the victims that we dealt with here in monterrey park, i don't have the specific
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agents because they have not been identified but they are not in their 20s or 30s, they seem to be probably i would say in their 50s 60s and maybe some even beyond and again, give me a second. anyways. yes ma'am. >> have the next to can for the victims been contacted yet sir? >> we are still in the process of doing that. >> [inaudible] >> that is something we are still looking at. we are looking at all criminal history, mental health history. those are all things the detectives will take a very hard, long look at and see if it impacted what occurred here. that is part of the learning lessons and sharing them with their partners and seeing if there is any gaps that were there that we may have missed.
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>> [inaudible] did officers return firearm? >> to my knowledge there was no officer deputy shooting at the scene. >> [inaudible] >> yes to all the above but it is none of those i can get into at this point. we have detectives all over the region continuously working very hard to answer a lot of the very good questions you are asking regarding motive and all of these other things. and the timing isn't right for me to put that out. we will but give us several more hours, we are taking this one step in a time. >> [inaudible] >> i didn't hear the first part
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of that, but the suspect responsible for this tragedy is no longer with us. that was the person that is deceased now, and you are asking me if we feel we are safe. he is the one responsible for this. he is no longer a threat. >> [inaudible] >> give me a second. i'm getting multiple questions at the same time. i hear something about guns. >> one gunman seized and one gun was -- suspect was carrying? >> we don't know yet. >> [inaudible] >> does he have a connection to
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torrents sir? >> this morning, when i talked about the information we had, we put out infamous information as we possibly can. there was a lot of very -- investigative and -- going on. something we don't talk about much in southern california is our extraordinary ability to communicate and coordinate with each other. not only the los angeles county sheriff's department, you see the partnership here between ourselves, the monterey park police department, my partner at the torrance police department. we put this information out, we are very good with our networks. and this is, it shows how important it is. we communicate this, officers are out on the lookout. they want, i don't care if you work in torrance, long beach, monterey park, you name the city. something like this happens, everybody who wears a batch wants that person in custody. i think that is what you see happening today.
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it is teamwork. and that is going on out there. >> [inaudible] i >> there is going to be more information that we will be putting out about the specifics but right now i am here to report that the suspect responsible for the tragedy is no longer a threat. >> [inaudible] >> we are still interviewing witnesses. we are interviewing witnesses at the monterey park. location, we are interviewing witnesses at the alhambra location and all of it will come together since weird for me some of this makes sense, putting it all together and
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figuring it out all out. we are still in the process of doing all of that. i want to take some days. >> [inaudible] let me give someone else a chance over here. >> [inaudible] can you clarify what type of pistol -- the weapons you found -- claude >> i believe the weapon that was recovered at the alhambra valley location is not legal to have here in the state of california. we will do more research on it, our partners at the atf and by the way, i was mentioning different police departments, we can't be as successful as we are without the fbi has been with us all day. the atf joined in. the u.s. marshals has been helping us. i can get a personal call for the attorney general saying what can we do to help you? i've been in communication with
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the governor. who you may see out here, in the very near future. everybody just, what can we do to help? so everybody was pitching. in >> [inaudible] >> i can tell you that the suspect walked in there, probably with the intent to kill more people. and to brave community members decided they were going to jump in action and disarm him. they did so, took possession of the weapon, and the suspect ran away. >> were they tipped off about the incident at the last location? >> you're asking the second part of the question here. >> [inaudible] >> i have not heard that. but that is possible.
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>> [inaudible] >> our deputies, actually the brave police officers from the monterey park police department are the first responder to the initial scene. i don't know if the chief has more information on that. that he can ask about. or answer, i should say. >> yes. >> [inaudible] >> the first officers on the scene were some of my youngest officers, they had only been on the street for a very short period of time. when they came into the parking lot, it was chaos. there were wounded people, people trying to flee out the doors, they mediately went into action and within just a couple of minutes those officers had entered the location looking
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for the suspect. that is our protocol here. we don't wait. inside, they came across the scene that none of them had been prepared for. so, there were injured people insight, there were dead people inside and my young officers did their job. searched for a suspect, and then came back and had to deal with the carnage that was inside. and it was extensive. that is one of the reasons i need to make sure that they are okay. >> how long did it take them to get on the scene? >> between the time of call and the first officer on scene it was less than three minutes. >> [inaudible] >> the youngest ones have only been out on their own in training for the last several months. we >> [inaudible] >> hold on.
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i have got a gentleman up here asking a question, someone is talking over him. can you repeat that please? >> [inaudible] we will but not tonight. we will get there. excellent questions. and we will get there. look >> [inaudible] >> not tonight because we are still in the process of following up, surging search warrants we. want to get to the motive, we want to know what the heck happened here. the only way we were going to get here is through very hard detective work and we plan on doing just that. so thank you very much, thank you for all of your support today.
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couldn't have done this without you. thank you very much. >> [applause] >> that was the sheriff in los angeles, cheryl flew now wrapping up that press conference on the mass shooting, in monterrey park. and the other incident in november that he mentioned. the shooter, a 72-year-old male asian who can tran died from self inflicted gunshot wounds after being confronted by the police in torrance california inside his white van. there are no outstanding suspects out there. the investigation is ongoing, the motive, we still don't know but the motive there. from the sheriff and other people in law enforcement and -- are still with me. carol, what did you make of that press conference? we still don't know the motivation but we do know about the shooting. >> yeah. a couple of things i take away from that press conference, one is how important it is for local law enforcement and
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federal law enforcement to work together and not just once every few years, they work together all the time so that when something like this happens, they can very quickly jump into action and support each other. the other thing has to do with the legality -- what appears to be from the description, a handgun with a large capacity magazine set that the sheriff said was it, looked like it is illegal in california. that is actually currently being litigated. it was illegal, those types of magazines were illegal. they were deemed illegal by the federal -- the supreme court in light of one of their other opinions related to firearms in a new york city case. they have sent that back down to the appellate court in california and to make old other look at this decision in light of our previous decision.
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that is a lot of issues at this point. >> amazing. amazing that -- just a reminder viewers, it is a magazine fed, semi automatic assault pistol that had an extended capacity attached to it, found at the scene at the second location where he was confronted by two american heroes. carmen, let me ask you this. congresswoman judy chu spoke there and she had a bunch of questions that we still don't know the answer to. what was the motive for the shooter? did you have a history of domestic violence as many mass shooters do? how did he get these guns legally or not? >> absolutely important questions. one that people, i can tell you -- right now, looking for answers. -- the suspect's name, determine if there was any criminal history, if anyone had a restraining order or -- against him, if there is a history of domestic violence, who you get in contact two of lay, who did he live, --
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locate a cell phone, a search warrant for that as well. there is a lot of things happening behind the scenes. so -- his mental state, how it came to this. [inaudible] 72 which is typically older than most of our suspects in these mass shootings. along with, that we are looking at how -- the fed booth, the communities that are suffering, with the tragedy that has happened to the victims and the victims family is. all of that. all that is happening simultaneously. >> and carroll, sheriff robert luna had a line that stood out to me. you are no longer in danger because the shooter is gone. just briefly, we are out of time but you are saying earlier, the fact that shooter is gone doesn't mean we are not changing our lifestyles to adapt all this of thought and violence. >> no, sadly it is more of a demonstration.
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in fact, it is a reminder that actually, we are not all that safe. it is terrible that we have to have. in this fashion. i understand why he was saying that, and we do want to get on with their lives but it is a terrible reminder. >> it is. carol lamb, carmen best, we appreciate your analysis and support in this hour, breaking news on this day of great tragedy. thank you both for the your time. that is all, i am here for tonight on sunday. but our coverage continues. i'm going to handed over to my friend ayman mohyeldin who is here to pick up the coverage. eamonn, i don't want to overstress this point as the immigrant here, as the guy who has lived in america less than ten years, but no other country, no one else in another country lives like this. it is safe to say other countries of all sorts of problems but you know, one of the points, in a press conference that stood out to me, is what the sheriff said. the
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