His older sister, Brenda, who at the moment runs the enterprise, stated the video confirmed a protracted, fierce wrestle between the 2 males all around the foyer.
“He saved coming at him, he actually wished the gun again,” she stated of the gunman.
The youthful Mr. Tsay, a pc coder who mans the ticket workplace just a few days every week on the ballroom began by his grandparents, stated it was round 10:35 p.m. Saturday that he turned to face the gunman, whom he didn’t acknowledge. He had by no means seen an actual gun earlier than, however might inform that it was a lethal weapon, he stated.
“My coronary heart sank, I knew I used to be going to die,” he stated.
The following second, he lunged and grabbed the weapon by its barrel and commenced wrestling with the gunman for management of it.
“That second, it was primal intuition,” he stated. “One thing occurred there. I don’t know what came to visit me.”
They fought over management of the gun for a few minute and a half, and it felt like they have been equally matched in energy, Mr. Tsay stated. At one level, the gunman appeared down on the weapon and took one hand off it, as if to govern the gun to start capturing. Mr. Tsay stated he seized the second and pried the pistol away from the person.
He pointed the weapon again at him and yelled: “Go, get the hell out of right here,” he recalled.
Mr. Tsay, who stayed up all night time aiding police with their investigation, stated he felt traumatized and hadn’t fairly been capable of course of what he had been by. He notably felt heartbroken for the neighborhood of Monterey Park and surrounding areas the place his household and their ballroom had turn out to be established as a beloved haven over three a long time, he stated.
“Lai Lai,” a reputation his grandmother selected, means “come, come,” in Chinese language, his sister stated. The assailant, wearing black, appeared like he might simply be one among their regulars, he stated.
“Now we have such a tight-knit neighborhood of dancers,” he stated. “It feels so horrible one thing like this occurred, to have one among our people attempt to hurt others.”
Shawn Hubler contributed reporting.
