The man suspected of killing 10 people Saturday night in the Los Angeles-area was found dead Sunday inside a white van that had been barricaded in by police.
The man, who has yet to be identified, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a witness who spoke with Los Angeles TV station KTLA.
The suspect, according to authorities, killed five men and five women and wounded at least ten others at a dance hall on Saturday night, the eve of the Lunar New Year, a major celebration in Asian-American communities.
The cargo van had been boxed in by multiple SWAT vehicles at a parking lot in Torrance, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
Earlier Sunday, Sheriff Luna gave the first description of the suspect — an Asian male between the ages of 30 and 50 — from Saturday night’s shooting at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park.
“It’s taken us a while and please be patient with us because as we are interviewing witnesses and victims we’ve gotten different descriptions of one suspect,” Sheriff Luna said during the early press conference Sunday.
SEE ALSO: Authorities identify suspect in mass shooting at Los Angeles area nightclub
The shooter started his rampage around 10:30 p.m. at the ballroom dance club in the largely Asian-American city about 10 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
The 10 fatalities are the nation’s largest mass shooting since last May when a gunman killed 21 people — including 19 children — at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
The nightclub-shooting suspect was not arrested at the scene, sparking a city-wide manhunt for the shooter.
About 20 to 30 minutes after the shooting at the Star Ballroom, law enforcement officials said that a man with a gun went inside the Lai Lai Ballroom in nearby Alhambra, according to KTTV, the local Fox affiliate in Los Angeles.
Sheriff Luna said that people there were able to disarm the suspect by wrestling a weapon away from him.
The sheriff didn’t say whether the two incidents were related, but authorities were still exploring Sunday to see whether they were connected.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.