Nine people have been killed in a mass shooting in a city east of Los Angeles following a Lunar New Year celebration that attracted thousands.
LA police said the shooting occurred at a business premises in Monterey Park, a city of about 60,000 people with a large Asian population that is about 10 miles from the city centre.
It is understood to have occurred at about 10pm local time – 6am on Sunday in the UK.
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Police are responding to the attack, with upsetting footage on social media appearing to show officers surrounding the area and firefighters treating victims, the Mirror reports.
Seung Won Choi, who owns a seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened on Garvey Avenue, said to the LA Times three people rushed into his restaurant and told him to lock the door.
They said the gunman had multiple rounds of ammunition on him so that once his ammunition ran out, the shooter reloaded, Choi said.
Monterey Park is majority Asian American Pacific Islander and is home to many Asian American families who would have been celebrating the New Year this weekend.
A 27-year-old man, Josh, who declined to give his last name, also told the LA Times he heard about four or five gunshots.
He lives nearby and heard police cruisers “smashing” down the street, as well as seeing one person being put on a stretcher and another person with a bandage on their arm.
“Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones tonight in our neighbouring city, Monterey Park, where a mass shooting just occurred,” Los Angeles city controller Kenneth Mejia said in a tweet.
The annual Lunar New Year festival is a weekend-long event that has previously drawn crowds of more than 100,000 visitors.
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