The shooter had been a regular at the ballroom he shot, according to people who knew him.
Crédito: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
The man who fatally shot 10 people in a Southern California dance studio was once a regular presence at the studio, even meeting his ex-wife there, three people who knew him told CNN.
Police say Huu Can Tran, 72, opened fire at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park on Saturday night before killing himself following a manhunt in the region on Sunday.
His ex-wife said in an interview that she met Tran regarding two decades ago at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, a popular community hangout where he gave informal lessons. Tran saw her at a dance, introduced himself and offered her free lessons, she said.
The two married shortly following meeting, according to the ex-wife, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the case. While Tran was never violent towards her, he said he might get angry quickly. For example, he said, if she missed a dance step, he would get upset because he felt it made him look bad. She commented that following several years together, he had the impression that he had lost interest in her. Her sister, who also asked not to be named, confirmed her version.
It is unknown how often, if at all, Tran visited the ballroom in recent years.
Tran filed for divorce in late 2005 and a judge approved the divorce the following year, Los Angeles court records show.
Tran was an immigrant from China, according to a copy of his marriage license that his ex-wife showed to CNN.
5 minutes by car from your house
Another longtime acquaintance of Tran’s also remembers him as a frequent presence in the dance studio. The friend, who also asked not to be named, was around Tran in the late 2000s and early 2010s when he said Tran would make the roughly 5-minute drive from his San Gabriel home to the Star Ballroom Dance. Studio “almost every night”.
Tran often complained at the time that the ballroom instructors didn’t like him and said “bad things regarding him,” the friend recalled, adding that Tran was “hostile to a lot of people there.”
More generally, Tran was easily irritated, complained a lot and didn’t seem to trust people, the friend said.
Tran sometimes worked as a truck driver, according to his ex-wife.
Business records show that Tran registered a business called Tran’s Trucking Inc. in California in 2002. But he dissolved the business regarding two years later, writing in a corporate document that the company had never acquired any known assets or incurred any known debts or liabilities.
Crédito: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
Bought a mobile home in Hemet
In 2013, Tran sold his San Gabriel home, which he had owned for more than two decades, property records show.
Seven years later, records show, Tran bought a mobile home in a senior living community in Hemet, California, a suburb regarding 80 miles east of Los Angeles.
Tran’s friend said he had not seen Tran in several years and was “totally shocked” when he found out regarding the shooting.
“I know a lot of people, and if they go to Star Studio, they hang out there,” the friend said, adding that he was “worried that I might know some of the shooting victims.”
