A shooting in the LA area last night marked the fifth mass shooting in the US this month and the deadliest since 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, Texas, eight months ago.
Just this month at least 32 people have died in five mass shootings – in Utah, Ohio, California and North Carolina.
This is the first time in more than fifteen years that there have been five mass shootings in the first three weeks of January, according to an AP database.
The first shooting this year was in Enoch, Utah, on January 3 and saw a man murder his five children and wife before turning the gun on himself.
The Lunar New Year shooting in Los Angeles on Saturday night was the most deadly mass shooting in the US since the school shooting in Uvalde last year
The first shooting this year was in Enoch, Utah, on January 3 and saw a man murder his five children and wide before then killing himself. The family home is pictured
Just three days into the new year the church-going family of eight – including five children – were found dead in their home after police were called for a welfare check. The bodies of two parents, their five children and another adult were found with gunshot wounds.
Less than a week later on January 9 in High Point, North Carolina, another father killed his wife and three children.
On January 13 in Cleveland, Ohio, two adults, 69 and 34, and a child, 16, were killed and two others were hospitalized after a shooting in a home.
Three days later on January 16, three were killed in Goshen, California, in what police described as a ‘cartel-style execution’. At least six people, including a mother, 17, and her 6-month-old baby were found dead after a shooting at 3.30am which was thought to be gang or drugs related.
Last night’s shooting at the Monterrey Park dance hall was therefore the second shooting this year in California
The shooting at Robb Elementary School, which killed 19 third and fourth grade children and two teachers, was one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.
Student and nearby Uvalde High School Salvador Ramos bought two rifles just days after turning 18, which he then used to launch the attack in May 2022.
A report released two months later by the Texas House committee found that on the eve of the May 24 shooting, Ramos, contacted several people ‘with vague but ominous messages.’
Ramos, 18, reportedly sent a Snapchat message to a 15-year-old German teenager he had befriended online telling her he ‘had a little secret.’
He told her that he couldn’t elaborate on what the plan entailed because he was waiting for a delivery on May 23, the day he received 1,740 hollow points.
On the day of the shooting, Ramos referred to his grandma as ‘this b****’ in a text to the German teenager.
He later texted her, ‘I just shot my grandma in her head… Ima go shoot up a elementary school rn.’
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The house committee investigating the incident also found that Ramos was nicknamed ‘school shooter,’ terrorized women online with graphic descriptions of violence and rape and even carried around a dead cat before the massacre.
Ramos, who is referred to in the report as ‘the attacker,’ was described by relatives as shy, quiet when he was a child and reluctant to interact with others because of a speech impediment.
He was a ‘wonderful student’ and always ready to learn, the committee learned of Ramos as a child. But then something changed.
He began falling behind in school and was identified as ‘at-risk,’ but never received special education services he needed, according to the report.
Throughout the fourth grade, Ramos was bullied over his stutter, short haircut and clothing – which he often wore the same every day, the report revealed, and detailed a time when a girl tied his shoelaces together causing him to fall on his face.
In 2018, Ramos had more than 100 absences that year and his grades were failing. By 2021, he had only completed the ninth grade, despite being 17 that year.
Instead of returning to school after the pandemic, Ramos dropped out and became more isolated focusing on the online world.
Ariana Diaz, a senior at Uvalde High School and one of the shooter’s former classmates, described him as a ‘popular loner,’ someone who everyone knew, but who kept to himself.
She told The Texas Tribune, that after COVID, he seemed to be in what she described as a ‘dark place,’ and started wearing all black and combat boots.
Multiple casualties were reported after the shooting in California during New Year celebrations
Interior of the Star Ballroom in Monterey Park, California where the shooting took place Saturday night
Dozens of police officers responded to reports of a shooting on 22 January in California
Last night’s shooting, in which a man with an assault-style rifle reportedly opened fire at a ballroom during a Chinese Lunar New Year event in Monterey Park, was therefore the second mass shooting event this year in California.
The gunman has not been identified and is believed to be at large after the deadly attack which happened just after 10pm on Saturday.
The celebration in Monterey Park is one of the largest Chinese New Year events in Southern California. It is not known if the attack was racially motivated.
This recent spate of shootings came less than two months after five were killed in a shooting at a nightclub in Colorado Springs.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was accused of entering a gay club and opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and injuring dozens of others.
