(Trends Wide Spanish) — Among the victims of the mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, on Saturday are a doting father and a woman whose family says they were most encouraged.
Dozens of people in their 50s, 60s and 70s gathered that day to celebrate the Lunar New Year weekend, when a 72-year-old gunman opened fire in the studio, killing 11 people and wounding 9. It was one of the deadliest shootings in California history.
The attacker, identified as Huu Can Tran, was found dead this Sunday morning in the nearby city of Torrance, after he shot himself when the police approached his vehicle.
Flowers near the site of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California. Credit: Mike Blake/Reuters
Who are the victims of the mass shooting in Monterey Park, California?
The victims, five men and six women, were publicly identified Tuesday by the coroner’s office. The women were:
- Xiujuan Yu, de 57 años
- Hongying Jian, de 62
- Lilian Li, de 63
- Mymy Nhan, de 65
- Muoi Dai Ung, de 67
- Diana Man Ling Tom, 70 years old.
The men were identified as:
- Wen-Tau Yu, 64 years old
- Valentino Marcos Alvero, 68
- Ming Wei Ma, de 72
- Yu-Lun Kao, de 72
- Chia Ling Yau, de 76
Here’s how your family and friends want to be remembered and how to help. As we learn more about their lives, we will continue to update this story.
Valentino Marcos Alvero, 68 years old
Valentino Marcos Alvero
Alvero, a worker in the hospitality industry, was scheduled to retire within a year with the hope of returning to his native Philippines, his son Val Anthony Alvero told Trends Wide’s David Culver. He hadn’t found out about the shooting until Sunday morning.
Anthony described his father as “always optimistic and concerned about others.”
Alvero spent his free time in the dance studio, Anthony said. Growing up, he remembers his father dancing and singing all over the house.
“He loved people and hearing about their lives, and in return he shared his own stories with such gusto and enthusiasm that you couldn’t help but listen and laugh with him.” according to a family statement. “She loved ballroom dancing, she loved her community, and she was the life of any party.”
Although Anthony wants to know more about what happened, anger doesn’t add anything to the situation, he said.
“I just wish something better came out of all of this,” he said. “The most important thing that I would like other people to take away, I think regardless of this situation, is that it is always so important to value the time that you have with people.”
Anthony’s father was the type of person to overcome emotions in times of crisis, so to honor him, he tries to do the same, he said.
Mymy Nhan, 65 años
Mymy Nhan Crédito: Familia Nhan y Quan
Nhan, known to friends and family as Mymy, loved to dance and spent many years visiting the dance studio.
She was known as her family’s “biggest cheerleader” and a “loving aunt, sister, daughter and friend,” according to a statement from her family.
Nhan had been the primary caregiver for her mother, who passed away four weeks ago, Tiffany Liou, a reporter for Trends Wide affiliate WFAA in Dallas, told Trends Wide and tweeted, whose husband was Nhan’s nephew.
“Now they are together, dancing in the sky”, wrote on Twitter.
“Mymy treated her nieces/nephews like her own children,” Liou said. “His kindness from her is what is lacking in this world.”
The family opened a page of GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses while mourning two relatives who died within days of each other.
Ming Wei Ma
Ming Wei Ma Crédito: Meing Wei Ma
Ma was a cultural force in the Monterey Park entertainment community, his friend Shuhui Peng said.
An employee of the Star Ballroom Dance studio, he was known by the nickname Little Ma Brother.
Although her main job was managing and not teaching dance, Ma was an enthusiastic presence who was always highly involved in studio operations, said May Hua Huang, a studio regular.
Once, when Huang couldn’t dance the Cha Cha, Ma happily stepped in to help, taking Huang out on the dance floor to practice a few moves together.
“I just froze,” Huang says, recalling the moment she found out about the shooting. “I immediately looked at the media, and suddenly my heart sank. How could something like this happen?”
With reporting from Trends Wide’s Alisha Ebrahimji, David Culver, Ralph Ellis, Natasha Chen, Elizabeth Wolfe, Sean Federico-O’Murchu and Chris Boyette.
