A 65-year-old woman who enjoyed dancing on the weekends at a dance studio in Monterey Park was identified Monday as one of 11 people killed when a gunman opened fire Saturday at the location.
Mymy Nhan, 65, was in a car in the parking lot when a gunman opened fire at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the San Gabriel Valley community following a night of Lunar Near Year festivities, family members said.
Nhan's family issued a statement Monday, saying she was a regular at the dance hall.
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"It's still sinking in what happened to Mymy," the family said in the statement. "She spent so many years going to the dance studio in Monterey Park on weekends. It's what she loved to do. But unfairly, Saturday was her last dance.
We are starting the Lunar New Year broken.
Family of My Nhan
"We are starting the Lunar New Year broken. We never imagined her life would end so suddenly. Mymy was 65 years old. If you saw her, you knew her warm smile and kindness was contagious. She was a loving aunt, sister, daughter and friend. Mymy was our biggest cheerleader."
The family thanked the community for its support.
Nhan's family said she was in a car and leaving with her dance partner when the gunman fired rounds from outside the driver's side window before he entered the dance hall. Her dance partner was not injured, family members said.
They said she did not know the shooter.
The deceased victims are in the 50s, 60s and 70s, according to the coroner's office. In a statement released Monday morning, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said a victim hospitalized at LA County USC Medical Center has died, raising the death toll to 11.
Nine people were injured in the shooting, including some who suffered critical injuries.
A motive for the shooting remains unclear. It was unclear whether the shooter knew any of the victims.
The shooting was reported late Saturday following a night of Lunar New Year celebrations in the community east of Los Angeles. About 20 minutes after the Star dance hall shooting, the gunman entered another ballroom in nearby Alhambra, where he was disarmed by at least one person, authorities said.
Witnesses provided authorities with a description of a white van seen leaving the area. The 72-year-old gunman was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a van Sunday at a Torrance strip mall.
The Star Ballroom Dance Studio's website said it was hosting an event Saturday night called "Star Night" from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. It was not immediately clear whether the shooter knew anyone at the dance hall event.
