*Correction appended.
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MONTEREY PARK, Calif. — With the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains visible in the distance, Star Ballroom sits next to a noodle shop in a strip mall that looks similar to countless others in the region. That a mass shooting, the worst in L.A. County history, took place in this low-crime ethnoburb of 60,000 has unnerved people throughout the area. Most of the victims were Asian American and ranged in age from late 50s to late 70s.
Even when attacks on Asian Americans, especially women, increased during the pandemic, many felt safe moving around Monterey Park and neighboring towns with high Asian-American populations. Ballrooms like Star were places where senior Asian Americans particularly felt comfortable. After the mass shooting on January 21 — which left 11 dead and nine injured — that might no longer be the case.
The 19th reached out to nearly a dozen older Asian-American women in the area to ask for their thoughts after the Monterey Park attack. The majority either declined to comment or did not want to be identified, citing concerns about their privacy and a discomfort with potentially publicly saying the “wrong thing” and being misconstrued by outsiders.
Christina, a 68-year-old who wanted to be identified only by her first name, was a regular at the ballroom and knew seven of the 11 people killed in the mass shooting that occurred on the eve of the Lunar New Year.
“We will probably never want to step inside again,” she told The 19th at a memorial on Wednesday…
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