Mymy Nhan, a 65-year-old woman of Vietnamese ethnicity, was a beloved regular at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. She had traveled to the dance hall to join in Lunar New Year celebrations, seeking to “start the year fresh” shortly after having lost her mother three weeks earlier. Dancing was a cornerstone of her life—what she loved to do—and tragically, January 21, 2023 would mark her final dance. Her family recalled her warm smile, kindness, and the joy she brought as an aunt, sister, daughter, and friend, often referring to her as their biggest cheerleader.
As she was leaving the studio that evening, backing her car out in the parking lot, she became the first person fatally shot during the mass shooting. A gunman opened fire on the crowd inside the ballroom and also fired on her vehicle, ending her life outside the venue. She was pronounced dead at the scene, just as the festivities intended to welcome the new year turned into a horrifying tragedy.
Mymy Nhan was one of eleven people killed in that attack. All victims were in their 50s to 70s, predominantly within the Asian American community, and most were at the dance hall to partake in the Lunar New Year gathering. The other ten individuals lost their lives either at the scene or shortly thereafter at a hospital.
In the wake of the shooting, law enforcement launched an extensive search for the perpetrator. The suspect was identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, who had also visited a nearby dance studio in Alhambra a short time later. He attempted a second attack but was disarmed by two courageous members of the community there. No arrests occurred; rather, the gunman fled and was later found in a vehicle in Torrance. He died by suicide there the following day, and no arrests were made in connection with the shooting.
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**Victim:** Mymy Nhan — female, age 65, of Vietnamese heritage — was killed on January 21, 2023 in a mass shooting at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, CA. She died in her vehicle in the parking lot as she was leaving, following her final dance. She had immigrated from Vietnam in the 1980s and lived in the San Gabriel Valley, cared for her mother, and was known for her warm and giving nature.
**Suspect/Shootings:** The shooter, identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, conducted the mass shooting at the dance studio, then proceeded to a second ballroom in Alhambra where he was disarmed. He subsequently fled and died by suicide—no arrests were made.
