26-year-old coder disarms California shooter, video of confrontation goes viral

Brandon Tsay can be seen tackling the Monterey Park shooter in CCTV footage.

Tsay, a computer coder, was manning his family-run ballroom’s ticket counter on Sunday when he saw Tran arrive there with a gun.

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The Lunar New Year celebrations amongst Chinese and other Asian communities in the US were marred after a shooter killed 11 people and injured several others at a ballroom in California’s Monterey Park. However, this mass shooting could have been much worse, if Brandon Tsay, 26, had not overpowered the shooter.

When the shooter, now identified as Huu Can Tran, 72, arrived at the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio in Alhambra after committing a mass shooting at another ballroom about three kilometres away, he intended to target more people. However, Tran was stopped by Tsay who wrestled his semi-automatic weapon and forced him to flee.

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Tsay, a computer coder, was manning his family-run ballroom’s ticket counter on Sunday when he saw Tran arrive there with a gun. CCTV footage showing Tsay’s act of bravery which saved several lives has gone viral.

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While talking to NBC News about his tussle with the shooter, Tsay said, “There was a moment I actually froze up, I had the belief that I was gonna die, like my life was ending here, at that very moment. But something amazing happened, a miracle actually. He started to try to prep his weapon so he could shoot everybody, but then it dawned on me that this was the moment to disarm him. I could do something here that could protect everybody and potentially save myself.”

Later, as the police surrounded Huu Can Tran, he was found dead inside his van from a self-inflicted gun wound.

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