Torrance, California
CNN
 — 

The man found dead inside a white cargo van after a standoff with police in Torrance, California, has been confirmed as the person suspected of carrying out a mass shooting in Monterey Park Saturday night, according to police.

Huu Can Tran, 72, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a news conference Sunday afternoon.

Tran is suspected of opening fire at a dance studio in Monterey Park, killing 10 people and injuring 10 more as the city’s large Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year weekend, Luna said.

SWAT officers had been in an hours-long standoff at the scene of the white cargo van, which fit the description of a vehicle of interest from the Monterey Park shooting.

As authorities ordered the occupant to leave the van, they heard a sound and believed the driver may have shot himself, law enforcement sources told CNN earlier.

Investigators searched the van after Tran fatally shot himself and discovered “several pieces of evidence” linking Tran to the Monterey Park shooting and another incident in nearby Alhambra, where a group of people had wrestled a gun away from an armed man at a dance studio, Luna said.

A handgun was also discovered inside the van, he said.

Police and investigators are now working to determine the motive behind the shooting, according to Luna.

• Huu Can Tran, 72, is believed to be the suspect behind the Monterey Park shooting, according to Luna, who said there are “no outstanding suspects” linked to the massacre.

• A group of people wrestled a gun away from man described as an Asian male at a dance studio in the nearby city of Alhambra shortly after the Monterey Park mass shooting, Luna said. Multiple pieces of evidence found in the van linked the shooter to both the Alhambra and Monterey Park incidents.

• It’s still too soon to rule out hate crime as a possible motive, the sheriff said Sunday. “Everything’s on the table.”

• Officers responded to a dance studio around 10:22 p.m. Saturday and found people “pouring out of the location, screaming,” said Capt. Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

• The massacre took place in the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, according to a CNN analysis.

• The 10 slain victims were pronounced dead at the scene, Meyer said. “There were at least 10 other victims who were transported to numerous local hospitals and are listed in various conditions from stable to critical,” Meyer said.

• Seven people remain hospitalized, according to Luna.

The gun wrestled away from the man in Alhambra was a Cobray M11 9mm semi-automatic weapon according to a law enforcement official. This firearm is designed to take 30-round magazines that allow for rapid fire without having to frequently change magazines.

“They saved lives,” Luna said, calling the community members who disarmed the suspect “heroes.” “This could’ve been much worse.”

The carnage unfolded near Monterey Park’s Lunar New Year festival, which was scheduled to take place until 9 p.m. on Garvey Avenue between Garfield and Alhambra avenues.

About 65% of Monterey Park’s residents are of Asian descent, according to the US Census Bureau.

While it’s too early to say whether the massacre was a hate crime, the impact has already been felt among one of the largest Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the US, the mayor of nearby Alhambra said.

“To have this tragedy occur on Lunar New Year weekend, makes this especially painful,” Alhambra Mayor Sasha Renée Pérez tweeted.

“Monterey Park is home to one of the largest #AAPI communities in the country. This is a time when residents should be celebrating with family, friends and loved ones – not fearing gun violence.”

Monterey Park, about 7 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, has been known to host Lunar New Year events drawing more than 100,000 people from across Southern California, according to the city.

It’s not clear how many people were still gathered in the area when shots were fired.

“Monterey Park should have had a night of joyful celebration of the Lunar New Year. Instead, they were the victims of a horrific and heartless act of gun violence,” Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted.

The local Lunar New Year festival which began Saturday and was scheduled to last into Sunday has been canceled, Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said Sunday.

“Out of an abundance of caution and reverence for the victims, we are canceling the event that’s going to happen later today,” Wiese said.

Authorities are asking the public for any clues that may help with the investigation. Those with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 or provide an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

The massacre in Monterey Park marks at least the 33rd mass shooting in the US so far this month, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Both the non-profit and CNN define a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.