Surveillance video footage revealed the shocking moment when a courageous Good Samaritan fought mass shooter Huu Can Tran late Saturday and unquestionably saved more lives.
After the 72-year-old assailant had already killed 11 and injured numerous others at a dance hall in Monterey Park, California, he went in search of further victims.
But when he burst into the Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio in nearby Alhambra, he was met by 26-year-old Brandon Tsay. The brave computer coder told Good Morning America that he did not notice anything out of the ordinary when he heard the ballroom door close.
That was until the noise was “instantly followed by the sound of a metal object clinking together.” That’s when he said he saw “an Asian man holding a gun.” Tsay said at that point he thought “this was it…I’m going to die here.”
Brandon Tsay is a hero. He fought the Monterey Park shooter and disarmed him.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 24, 2023
Instead, Tsay, who revealed he had never even seen a real gun before, saw that the gunman clearly was not there to rob his family’s dance studio. The witness who became a hero said the man “seemed like he was looking for targets. People to harm.”
At that point, Tsay had no idea that the man he encountered had just killed 11 innocent people at another dance hall. All he knew was that he saw the gunman preparing his weapon to fire, and that’s when the civilian emerged from his office for a confrontation.
Tsay reported that “something came over him” and he knew he must act. He said, “when I got the courage, I lunged at him with both my hands.” A fierce struggle ensued, and he recalled that the suspect “was hitting me across the face, especially in the back of my head.”
The young man was then able to wrestle the weapon away from the attacker. Tsay remembered, “I was able to pull the gun away from him, that moment, it was primal instinct.” The tables now turned, he aimed the firearm and told the attacker to leave.
The suspect reportedly then ran to his van and left. Tsay said he immediately called the police “with the gun still in my hand.”
The suspect later shot himself dead when approached by law enforcement. A horrific situation could have been even much worse if not for the heroic actions of one person who sprang into action and faced the threat head-on.
