Monterey Park has not forgotten. The 11 who lost their lives in a senseless shooting on Jan. 21, 2023, live on strong in a community’s collective memory.
One year later, here is a synopsis of biographical stories that published on Jan. 29, 2023, about the 11 people who were murdered as a result of the mass shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park.
Ming Wei Ma, 72
Ming Wei Ma was beloved as “the heart” of the Star Ballroom Dance Studio. The co-owner is remembered for his boundless enthusiasm and magnetic ability to draw people together. Ma often took the lead in planning events for the local Chinese community; he organized a successful gala just a week before the shooting.
“Champion in the house!” he’d greet a Star instructor who won national dance competitions.
“I want to provide an active place for the Asian community of Monterey Park to help prolong their life and improve their health,” Ma told the Pasadena Star-News in 2016. “Having a place where people from all over the world can come together and communicate through dance is how I can help.”
Yu-Lun Kao, 72 *
Yu-Lun Kao, who went by “Andy,” had just turned his partner during an upbeat number at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio when a gunman walked in.
Shally, a friend who had danced with him for 15 years, said that two-second move during a jive dance saved her life. But it cost Kao his.
Andy Kao is remembered as a kind person. His nickname, in fact, was “Mr. Nice.” He was single and lived by himself in an apartment in South El Monte, where he was the only Asian tenant surrounded by Latino neighbors, and where he routinely played the saxophone in the evening.
“Even those he couldn’t speak to (in Spanish,) he always greeted them,” the apartment manager said. A neighbor said they called Kao “una buena persona” – “a good person.”
The Andy Kao Memorial Ballroom Dance Group was formed after the tragedy.
On Jan. 20 and Jan. 21, Arcadia Donuts will donate the proceeds from sales to the Monterey Park Hope and Resiliency Center and the Andy Kao Memorial Ballroom Dance Group to assist funding the nonprofit organizations’ continued activities. Arcadia Donuts is at 34 Las Tunas Drive, Arcadia.
Valentino Marcos Alvero, 68
“Please remember that Valentino is more than just a headline or a news story,” the family of Valentino Marcos Alvero wrote.
“He loved people and hearing about their lives and, in return, he shared his own stories with so much gusto and enthusiasm that you couldn’t help but listen and laugh along with him,” his family said in a statement.
A father of two, grandfather to three and an uncle to many nieces and nephews, Alvero loved “fiercely” and was the “life of any party,” they said.
He was also a devout Catholic, and his loved ones called it a “great travesty” that he didn’t receive his last rites, a sacrament administered before death.
“Our family would like to request all priests and Catholics to pray for him by name, Valentino Marcos Alvero,” they wrote.
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Wen-Tau Yu, 64 *
Though he was retired, Wen-Tau Yu was still pursuing new goals, his son Szu Fa Yu said proudly.
Yu immigrated to the United States from Taiwan and had worked as a manager for an agricultural company, his son said.
Now Yu was attending school to become a pharmacist. He was less than a month into the medical program. “I really admire him for that,” Yu said.
“His books and notes are still lying around on the desk,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking to see”
My My Nhan, 65
My My Nhan — which some also spelled My or Mymy — was her family’s “biggest cheerleader,” read a statement from loved ones.
Nhan chose the Star Ballroom Dance Studio to celebrate the Lunar New Year, coming three weeks after the passing of her mother. She had been her mother’s caretaker, and now she was ready to “start the year fresh,” said her niece, Fonda Quan.
Nhan liked group dance classes like the ones offered at Star, her friend Paul Cao said. And she was a quick learner.
“In group, you have to be able to catch it,” he said, “and she danced very well.”
In August, Nhan’s family announced the creation of the My My Nhan Legacy Fund, established through Asian Pacific Community Fund, to help organizations like Seniors Fight Back, which empowers AAPI seniors by providing tools and resources for them to protect themselves against violence.
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Xiujuan Yu, 57
Xiujuan Yu left her life in China behind about a decade ago to start a new future for her family in the United States.
A mother of three, Yu and her husband worked hard to support their two daughters’ college education, and took on odd jobs to make ends meet.
But everything changed on the night of Jan. 21.
“My aunt was in the middle of crafting that future with her husband and children, and now to have that journey suddenly interrupted is heartbreaking,” her niece, Kathleen Fong said. “She will never be able to witness what she dreamed of for all these years.”
Yu was the youngest victim of the ballroom shooting.
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Muoi Dai Ung, 67
Muoi Dai Ung, a Chinese-Vietnamese refugee, didn’t live in Monterey Park, but she felt a strong connection with the city.
“Much like our community she was complicated, messy, easy to love and sometimes hard to understand from the outside,” her family said in a statement. “She loved going to Monterey Park not only because she loved to dance. She came to Monterey Park because this is where her community was … she knew this is where the heart of the Asian American community beats strongest.”
Ung loved to dance. “She also loved to eat and gamble.”
And sometimes, said loved ones, “She tried to do all three at the same time.”
Hongying Jian, 62
People called Hongying Jian “Sister Sunshine.” Jian, who also went by her married name Nancy Liu, “was a Christian, and very outgoing and kind,” said her friend Qiang Bjornbak.
Joe Chen was in a group with Jian and others who played weekly volleyball games in Alhambra and Hacienda Heights. On Saturday, Jan. 21, just hours before Jian’s death, she was with them, he said, laughing and chatting.
Jian and her husband Jeff Liu rarely left each other’s side, those who knew the couple said. So, of course, they spent the night of Jan. 21 together, celebrating the Lunar New Year at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio.
He was shot but survived.
Liu caught a glimpse of his wife as she fell to the floor.
Chia Ling Yau, 76 *
Chia Ling Yau, known as Charlie among family and friends, loved music, dancing and traveling.
Yau was a “caring father, uncle, brother and friend,” his family wrote in a statement.
“Taking every opportunity to cultivate his love of music, dance and travel, he often expressed gratitude for life and reflected upon the lessons he learned,” they said.
He is remembered as a family man, “generous with words of love and affirmation.”
Diana Man Ling Tom, 70
“Diana was a hard-working mother, wife and grandmother who loved to dance,” her family said.
A former pharmacy technician, Tom went out of her way to give to others, they said in a statement.
Ten of those killed were found in the dance studio. But Tom clung to life for 24-hours at LAC+USC Medical Center before becoming the 11th casualty of the mass shooting.
“Keep dancing in heaven, Auntie Diana,” her niece wrote.
LiLan Li, 63
LiLan Li was dealt many of life’s twists and turns, but she was a “pillar of strength and optimism,” her daughter Min Yi said.
And she was a wonderful grandmother.
“Stolen is the grandmother whose granddaughter fell asleep many a night nestled in between her loving arms! Taken away from us is an opportunity for her grandson to ever feel her love and warmth!” wrote Yi in Chinese and English on a GoFundMe page.
Li’s survivors include two sisters and a brother. Most of her family lives in China and will be flying to California for the funeral service.
“The solidarity in the Asian community is strong,” her nephew, Hao Hua Tan, wrote. “And we will persevere.”
*The coroner has revised the spelling of some names. The spelling of Kao, Wen-Tau Yu and Yau’s names was provided by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.
Staff writers Clara Harter, Donna Littlejohn, Erika I.Ritchie, Hanna Lykke, Hunter Lee, Javier Rojas, Kristy Hutchings, Lisa Jacobs, Monserrat Solis, Roxana Kopetman, Yusra Farzan, the Associated Press, The New York Times and family statements on social media contributed to our initial report.
Source: Orange County Register
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