Early last Sunday morning, then again on Monday, AlertsUSA subscribers were notified of mass shootings within California's Chinese community.
The first shooting took place within a packed dance hall in Monterey Park which is located just East of Los Angeles. In this incident, local 72-year-old resident Hu Can Tran entered a Chinese New Year celebration at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio and opened fire using a 9mm pistol with an high capacity magazine, killing 11 and injuring 10 others.
Tran fled the scene and was later located in Torrence, CA hiding in a van. After an hours-long standoff with SWAT officers, Tran was discovered to have taken his own life.
No motive has been put forth for the attack.
The second shooting took place Monday at the California Terra Garden mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay, CA just south of San Francisco. In this incident, 66-year-old Chunli Zhao shot and killed four coworkers and wounded a fifth. Zhao is reported to have then drove to a nearby farm where he used to work and killed three more people.
Zhao confessed to the killing during a courthouse interview with the local NBC affiliate. The motive put forth was that he was bullied, worked long hours on the farms, and that his complaints were ignored.
This incident was the second time an employee tried to kill a coworker on the property.
Reports indicate Zhao has been in the U.S. 11 years and is a Green Card holder. According to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, 5 of the individuals killed in the two CA shootings were Chinese nationals.
Jihad Returns to Europe
On Wednesday, AlertsUSA subscribers were notified mass stabbing attack that had just unfolded on a regional train traveling from Kiel to Hamburg, Germany. In this incident, an unnamed 33-year-old male police describe as "stateless Palestinian" began stabbing and slashing passengers just before the train arrived at the (Brockshedt) train station.
Authorities said the train was stopped and the attacker detained by other passengers until police officers arrived. In total, 2 teens were killed and 7 others wounded.
As of the time of this report's preparation Friday evening, no motive has been given for the attack.
Later in the day, AlertsUSA subscribers were informed of machete attack which had just unfolded at two different churches in port city of Algeciras, in the south of Spain.
According to Spain's Interior Ministry, "a man entered the church of San Isidro in Algeciras, where, armed with a machete, he attacked the priest, leaving him seriously wounded. Subsequently, he entered the church of Nuestra Senora de La Palma in which, after causing damage, he attacked another priest. The verger managed to get out of the church but was caught by the attacker outside and sustained mortal injuries." Several others were injured.
The attacker then attempted to run to a third church but was captured by police and arrested.
BBC reports the male suspect is a 25-year-old Moroccan national who was due to be deported in June as he was in the country illegally.
There are numerous reports of the suspect shouting "death to Christians" and "Allahu Akbar" during the attacks.
Spanish authorities have categorized the incident as an act of terrorism.
AlertsUSA continues to monitor the domestic and international threat environment around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers, via SMS messages to their mobile devices, of new alerts, warnings and advisories or any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant. |
