(Reuters) – Back-to-back mass shootings in California have claimed the lives of people who loved to dance at a studio in Monterey Park and farm workers in the coastal community of Half Moon Bay.
MONTEREY PARK VICTIMS
Eleven people died after a 72-year-old gunman opened fire late Saturday during a celebration of the Lunar New Year at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, east of Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has confirmed the names of the victims. There were six women killed: My Nhan, 65, Lilian Li, 63, Xiujuan Yu, 57, Muoi Ung, 67, Hong Jian, 62, and Diana Tom, 70. The five men who were killed were identified as Yu Kao, 72, Chia Yau, 76, Valentino Alvero, 68, Wen Yu, 64, and Ming Ma, 72.
The Chinese consulate in Los Angeles said Chinese citizens were among the dead. Taiwan’s consulate in Los Angeles said two Taiwanese expatriates also were killed.
Tom’s family said she died on Sunday after being taken to hospital in critical condition following the shooting, according to a statement seen by ABC News. Tom was remembered as a “hard-working mother, wife and grandmother who loved to dance.”
“To those who knew her, she was someone who always went out of her way to give to others,” the statement said.
In a statement on Twitter, Alvero’s family said he was a devout Catholic who loved ballroom dancing and was the life of any party.
“Overnight, we became unwilling members of a community who has to mourn the loss of our loved ones due to gun violence. We are left frustrated, stuck with this vicious cycle,” the family said.
HALF MOON BAY VICTIMS
Seven people were killed and one person was in critical condition after a 67-year-old man on Monday attacked two mushroom farms near the resort town of Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, police said.
The victims – seven men and one woman – were all Asian or Hispanic adults, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
Farm worker Marciano Martinez-Jimenez was shot dead at Concord Farms, his nephew Carlos Martinez-Maya told ABC7 news. Police said two other people were also killed at the mushroom farm off Highway 1 just south of Half Moon Bay.
The other four victims were shot dead at Mountain Mushroom Farm about two miles to the north of Concord Farms, police said.
The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office declined to comment on the identities of the victims.
(Reporting by Rich McKay, Brad Brooks, Sharon Bernstein, Kanishka Singh, Brendan O’Brien and Engen Tham, Ben Blanchard and Andrew Hay; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Nick Zieminski)
