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…
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