California: Latest mass shooting will spark calls for tighter gun control – but don’t expect action any time soon
It is immediately obvious that Monterey Park is unlike anywhere else in California.
The small city of around 61,000 people is eight miles east of downtown Los Angeles but could be a different country, with its Chinese supermarkets, dumpling restaurants and shop signs written in Chinese alongside English.
More than 65% of the people who live here are Asian American. It is, as one scholar described it, “an ethnic enclave in the suburbs that thrives because it refuses to assimilate, instead unapologetically catering to its own immigrant community”.
Still, it is not immune to the most American of tragedies. But even as Monterey Park comes to terms with 10 people shot dead during a ballroom dance class, there is a quiet and peaceful resolve.
In front of a police cordon on the street where the massacre took place, a group of people kneel and pray, asking their God for strength.
The Lunar New Year celebrations have been cancelled
Chinese New Year took place at the weekend and just hours before the shooting the street had been filled with thousands of people listening to live music or buying meat skewers from food stalls.
“It is so horrible, it’s like this happening for many people on a Christmas Eve or something, it’s just terrible,” says Robert Chao Romero, a professor of Asian American studies at UCLA.
On Sunday, families with children wearing traditional Chinese dresses came to Monterey Park from other parts of LA, expecting the second day of the Lunar New Year festival to be under way, but arrived to see stalls and signs being dismantled and police blockades.
When they learned the reason why, they were horrified.
One local woman came to lay flowers but dissolved into tears when she considered the contrast of what this weekend should have looked like for Monterey Park.
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“I was so looking forward to celebrating,” says Deanna Trujillo, who is part of a large Hispanic population in Monterey Park.
“It’s extremely painful, it kills me that this is happening to these families. This is one of the most united, kind and friendly communities.
“I might not be celebrating but I wanted to be part of this to let the Asian community know that they are so special to me.”
An evening news conference brought the news that a 72-year-old suspect had been found dead inside a white van 30 miles away in the city of Torrance with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The immediate danger was over for Monterey Park, bringing relief to people who had been terrorised for hours, but gun violence is the never-ending scourge of life in America.
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This is the deadliest mass shooting since 19 children and two teachers were killed in a primary school in Uvalde, Texas, last May but it is far from the only one.
Since the turn of the year there have been 33 mass shootings – defined by the Gun Violence Archive as when four or more people, not including the shooter, are injured or killed – in the US.
Police believe the gunman in Monterey Park used a semi-automatic rifle to murder and maim, perhaps obtained illegally.
California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country but still it was not enough to deter a determined killer.
Another mass shooting has prompted another chorus of calls for tighter gun control, particularly over automatic and semi-automatic weapons, which are designed to kill.
But America’s long list of mass shootings tells us any meaningful change is unlikely in the near future.
Federal air safety regulators have opened a fresh investigation into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner – after the firm said several employees had committed “misconduct” by falsely claiming tests had been completed.
The probe will look into whether Boeing completed inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings of certain 787 Dreamliner planes join the fuselage, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The investigation will also look at “whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records”, the US federal government agency added.
The FAA said Boeing is “reinspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet” while the investigation is taking place.
Boeing shares were down 1.5% at $177.03 late on Monday afternoon.
‘Several people not performing required test’
In an email from 29 April, Scott Stocker, who leads Boeing’s 787 program, said that an employee saw what appeared to be an irregularity in a required 787 conformance test.
Mr Stocker wrote that after receiving the report “we quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed”.
In the email, addressed to employees in South Carolina where the 787 is assembled, Mr Stocker said Boeing promptly informed the FAA about what it had learned and said it is taking serious corrective action with “multiple” employees.
He added that “our engineering team has assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue”.
‘They are putting out defective airplanes’
It comes weeks after a Congressional investigation in April heard evidence on the safety culture and manufacturing standards at Boeing.
Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer at the company, told members of a Senate subcommittee that Boeing was taking shortcuts to bolster production levels that could lead to jetliners breaking apart.
He said of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which has more than 1,000 in use across airlines globally including at British Airways, that excessive force was used to jam together sections of fuselage.
He claimed the extra force could compromise the carbon-composite material used for the plane’s frame.
“They are putting out defective airplanes,” he concluded, while adding that he was threatened when he raised concerns about the issue.
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Boeing quality engineer Sam Salehpour testifies during the Senate homeland security subcommittee hearing. Pic: AP
The engineer said he studied Boeing’s own data and concluded that the company is “taking manufacturing shortcuts on the 787 programme that could significantly reduce the airplanes’ safety and the life cycle”.
Boeing denied his claims surrounding both the Dreamliner’s structural integrity and that factory workers jumped on sections of fuselage to force them to align.
Two Boeing engineering executives said this week that its testing and inspections regimes have found no signs of fatigue or cracking in the composite panels, saying they were almost impervious to fatigue.
Boeing has been grappling with a months-long safety crisis since a panel blew out of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane mid-flight in January.
The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the mid-air emergency.
The National Transportation Safety Board has said four key bolts appeared to be missing from the plane.
Boeing has said it believes required documents detailing the removal of the bolts were never created.
A US soldier was detained in Russia over the weekend while on a private trip, according to officials.
The soldier, who hasn’t been named, has been accused of stealing from a woman, Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News, reported, citing four US officials.
The White House is aware of reports of an American soldier being detained in Russia, national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday.
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The soldier was arrested in the port city of Vladivostok on 2 May, “on charges of criminal misconduct,” US army spokesperson Cynthia O Smith said.
He had reportedly been stationed in South Korea and travelled to Russia for a personal trip and not on official duty, according to the US officials.
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“The Russian Federation notified the US Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” Ms Smith said.
“The army notified his family and the US Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia.
“Given the sensitivity of this matter, we are unable to provide additional details at this time.”
A man who tried to shoot a pastor during his service at a church was wrestled to the floor after his gun failed to fire, according to police.
Bernard J. Polite, 26, said “God made me do it” and planned to “wait to be arrested”, court documents reveal, when he entered the Pennsylvania church just after 1pm on Sunday.
Glenn Germany, who was giving a sermon being live streamed from Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church, told WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh that Polite smiled at him just before he pointed the gun.
He ducked out of the way as someone from the congregation tackled Polite, before he helped to wrest the gun away and keep him down until officers arrived.
“I am feeling grateful that I woke up this morning and that I am here, it could have gone an opposite direction,” Mr Germany said on Monday.
“But God has intervened and I am grateful for him.”
Polite was not known at the church, officials said, and court filings say he wandered over to the church after hearing music coming from there.
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The body of a shooting victim was found in a home near the church in North Braddock, where Polite had been shortly before going to the church, county police said.
The county medical examiner’s office identified the body as Derek Polite, 56, of North Braddock, but did not confirm any specific relation to Bernard Polite.
Polite faces numerous charges, including aggravated assault and attempted homicide, and is in custody without bail.
State police said they don’t know if Polite has a lawyer, and county court records do not list one.
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In a Facebook post on Monday, the church said Pastor Glenn is “doing fine” and “he says he is doing great and blessed to be alive”.
“He sends his love to everyone and he thanks you all for your prayers and concerns,” it adds.
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