Brandon Tsay spoke out for the first time after he possibly prevented a second mass shooting over the weekend by disarming the Monterey Park killer.
Today (Jan. 23), Tsay, who helps operate the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio in Alhambra, CA with his family, said in an interview with “Good Morning America” that he thought his life was over when he heard “the sound of metal” in the lobby of the building.
“My first thought was I was going to die here,” the 26-year-old told ABC News’ Robin Roberts. After his initial feeling, he bravely took the gun away from Huu Can Tran, 72, who authorities identified as the suspect who opened fire at a Lunar New Year celebration inside of Park’s Star Ballroom Dance Studio killing 10 people and injuring 10 others.
EXCLUSIVE: “I realized I needed to get the weapon away from him, disarm him, or else everyone else would have died.”
Brandon Tsay, who helped disarm the gunman who allegedly shot 20 people, 10 fatally, during Lunar New Year celebration in CA, speaks out. https://t.co/O3eNuELr9O pic.twitter.com/OXTCXgml1u
— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 23, 2023
“He started prepping the weapon and something came over me,” he added. “I realized I needed to get the weapon away from him. I needed to take this weapon, disarm him or else everybody would have died. When I got the courage, I lunged at him with both my hands, grabbed the weapon and we had a struggle,” Tsay explained. “We struggled into the lobby, trying to get this gun away from each other.”
He continued, “Finally, at one point, I was able to pull the gun away from him, shove him aside, create some distance,” Tsay said. Then he turned the gun on the man and told him, “Get the h**l out of here. I’ll shoot you.”
Fortunately, Tsay didn’t have to shoot Tran despite him being hesitant to leave the scene after losing his gun. Moments after the tussle, the suspected Monterey Park shooter turned around, walked out the door and jogged back to his van. Tsay immediately called the police with the gun still in my hand.
On Sunday evening (Jan. 22), REVOLT reported that Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Tran took his own life as officers approached him.
“Our sheriffs SWAT team approached and cleared the van and determined the suspect sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and was pronounced dead at the scene,” said Luna. “Investigators conducted a search of the vehicle and determined the male inside the van was the mass shooting suspect.”