Biden Pays Tribute to CA Victims 01/27 06:04
President Joe Biden on Thursday honored 18 people killed in two California
mass shootings, saying "we have to be there" with the communities that have
been forever scarred by gun violence.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden on Thursday honored 18 people killed
in two California mass shootings, saying "we have to be there" with the
communities that have been forever scarred by gun violence.
"Our prayers are with the people of Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, and
after yet another spree of gun violence in America," he said at a Lunar New
Year reception at the White House.
Eleven people were killed at a Southern California ballroom dance hall late
Saturday and seven others died Monday at two mushroom farms in the northern
part of the state.
Biden said he had spoken with Brandon Tsay, 26, who was at a second dance
hall a few miles from the scene of the tragedy in Monterey Park when the same
gunman entered, brandishing his weapon. Tsay disarmed the gunman, who then fled.
He praised Tsay's courage, calling him a "genuine hero."
"Brandon said he thought he was going to die, but then he thought about the
people inside," Biden said, asking the largely Asian American audience to
ponder what could have happened had Tsay fled himself.
"I think sometimes we underestimate incredible acts of courage," the
president said. "Someone has a semiautomatic pistol aimed at you and you think
about others. That's pretty profound, pretty profound."
The shootings were carried out during celebrations of the arrival of the
Lunar New Year, one of the most important Asian holidays, and sent fear through
Asian American communities already dealing with increased violence directed at
them, some of it due to misinformation about the coronavirus.
Authorities said Huu Can Tran opened fire late Saturday on a mostly elderly
crowd of dancers at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. Nine
people also were wounded. Tran, 72, was later found dead from a self-inflicted
gunshot wound.
Days later, farmworker Chunli Zhao, 66, opened fire at two mushroom farms in
Half Moon Bay on Monday, killing seven current and former co-workers, police
said.
The White House had scheduled its Lunar New Year celebration before the
shootings.
Both communities "will be affected by what they saw and what they lost for
the rest of their lives," Biden said, referring to the trauma inflicted and the
need for treatment. "And as a nation, we have to be there with them. We have to
be there with them. We don't have a choice."
He led the gathering in a moment of silence in honor of the victims.
Biden had ordered American flags on federal facilities lowered to half-staff
through sunset Thursday out of respect for the Monterey Park victims. He said
Thursday that he has been in touch with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He also
sent Vice President Kamala Harris, a native of the state, to Monterey Park on
Wednesday to offer condolences on behalf of the government.
Biden had been in California on Jan. 19, just two days before the dance
studio shooting, to survey flood damage along the state's central coast
following days of heavy rains. He spoke with Tsay earlier this week.
"Thank you for taking such incredible action in the face of danger," Biden
told Tsay in a brief video of the conversation that the White House shared
Thursday on Twitter. "I don't think you understand how much you've done for so
many people who are never even going to know you."
Tsay replied that he was still processing what had happened.
"For you to call, that's just so comforting to me," Tsay told the president.