The community of Monterey Park gathered Sunday for a somber evening to honor the lives of the nearly dozen people who were killed in a mass shooting at a popular dance hall.
Sunday marked the first anniversary of the Monterey Park mass shooting – a tragedy that impacted the predominantly Asian community as residents were celebrating Lunar New Year. That celebration turned to devastation when a gunman entered the Star Ballroom Dance Studio on Jan. 21, 2023, and opened fire, killing a total of 11 people and injuring several others.
As the San Gabriel Valley city grieved the loss in a candlelit vigil, survivors are pushing forward with their lives and navigating their trauma. Cindy Lao, who survived the heartbreaking violence, recounts the horrific night and shared her journey of healing.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
“I was there to enjoy and watch everybody dance,” Lao told NBC4. “I had some friends that knew how to do ballroom dancing and partner dancing, so I was just enjoying the night.”
She recalled performing her choreographed dance when she thought she heard firecrackers, a common Chinese tradition during festivities meant to scare off evil spirits.
“We were so into the music and the dance, we didn’t even notice the shooter came in,” Lao said.
She knew something was amiss when she saw a couple suddenly fall onto the floor. The firecrackers Lao thought she heard were actually gunshots.
“At first, people were yelling, ‘Hey, get out of here, it’s not safe,’ and I couldn’t really hear what they were saying. I didn’t know what was happening,” Lao said.
The survivor then dropped to the floor and hid under a pile of balloons near the window, waiting for the gunfire to stop.
“At that time, I was very scared and dared not to move,” she said. “I was thinking to myself about my friend and thought to myself, ‘Please do not move. If you move even one inch, you are not going to make it.’”
The gunman left the studio after unloading 42 rounds.
“When I came out of the room and to the dance hall, I saw a lot of blood on the floor,” Lao recalled. “I saw people on the floor. I even saw someone shot in the head.”
She and nearly 40 others at the studio that night was not physically injured, but the psychological trauma has caused emotional distress- often triggered by the sight of red lights that bring Lao back to the night her friends were murdered.
“Thinking about that night, all the lives that were lost, those who were injured, I still feel pain and sorrow in my heart,” Lao said.
Following the shooting, it took the survivor several months before she was ready to return to her love of dance. However, she was aware people relied on her dance classes and eventually, she was able to get back to her passion and share it with others.
“This is also a way to honor, even though this tragedy happened,” Lao said. “This is also a way to honor those who lost their lives that night and those who were injured.”
