美国国家公共电台 NPR--No motive is known yet for the mass shooting at Lunar New Year festival

No motive¹ is known yet for the mass shooting at Lunar New Year festival

Transcript²

Authorities in California say the man responsible for the mass shooting at a dance hall Saturday night in Monterey Park killed himself after police stopped his van. The gunman killed 10 people.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The man who authorities say shot and killed 10 people at a dance hall in Southern California over the weekend is dead.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Police say the man opened fire in a community where many people were celebrating the Lunar New Year. His high-powered weapon was banned in California. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna spent much of yesterday giving the public information. Though as often happens, it's hard to understand the gunman's motive.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROBERT LUNA: The investigation³ continues. We want to know. We want to know how something like this, something this awful, can happen.

FADEL: NPR's Nathan Rott is in Monterey Park, the community where this happened, and he joins us now. Good morning, Nate.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE⁴: Hey, good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So a really traumatic start to a new year as people celebrated⁵...

ROTT: Yeah.

FADEL: ...The start of the year of the rabbit. Tell us what we know about the shooting.

ROTT: Yeah. So the shooting happened on Saturday, the Lunar New Year Eve, here in Monterey Park at a dance hall that we understand is usually frequented by elderly Asian Americans. The gunman, who authorities have identified as a 72-year-old Asian man, walked into the dance hall at around 10:20 p.m. local time, opened fire on the crowd, killing⁶ 10 people, injuring 10 more. He then went to another dance hall in Alhambra, which is just north of Monterey Park. And authorities say he was disarmed⁷ there by two patrons and then fled.

FADEL: So he was disarmed, but he still escaped.

ROTT: Yeah, that's right. And so, you know, yesterday, there was this huge manhunt underway here in Los Angeles County until around midday when police stopped a vehicle matching a description of the suspect's in Torrance, which is about, you know, 30 minutes southwest of here for people that don't know the LA Basin geography. Authorities say when officers approached the van he was in, a single shot rang out. And then they later found the man dead in the driver's seat from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There were items in the vehicle, authorities say, which tied the man to both crime scenes, and he is believed to have acted alone.

FADEL: Nate, as we both know, these mass shootings happened so often, and it's hard to make sense of such senseless violence. But do authorities have any idea why he did this?

ROTT: At this point, no. That's still the big question hanging over this whole tragedy; you know, that and how the man was able to obtain the weapon he used - a semiautomatic assault pistol that had an extended magazine, which is illegal in California. So authorities are looking into how he was able to obtain that. They're also still trying to identify the victims. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna says five men and five women were killed. All were in their 50s or 60s or older. They're not releasing all of the information about the victims until family can be properly notified. And Monterey Park is a predominantly Asian and Pacific Islander community. It's a place where many Chinese and Taiwanese Americans get their start in this country. So it may take some time for them to let family know what happened if they do have family abroad.

FADEL: So as you said, this happened over the Lunar New Year. As such an important holiday for many Asian Americans, how are people doing?

ROTT: There's a lot of shock and a lot of outrage⁸, as you'd imagine, you know. Here's one of the people I talked to, Vickie Kuo, who came to Monterrey Park to celebrate what he thought would be his first normal New Year holiday in years.

VICKIE KUO: After the pandemic, we finally had, like, normal life. And it's, I believe, the first New Year festival, so it's pretty sad (ph).

ROTT: Yeah. I mean, all of the events yesterday at Monterey Park were canceled for the new year. And I know other parts of the city did that out of caution as well. So a hard way to start the year.

FADEL: NPR's Nate Rott in Monterey Park, Calif, thank you so much.

ROTT: Yeah, thank you.

1 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 disarmed   

v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。
• The swordsman disarmed his opponent and ran him through. 剑客缴了对手的械，并对其乱刺一气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。