Mymy Nhan loved her nieces, her nephews and dancing at the Star Ballroom, where older residents of one of the country’s largest Chinese-American communities regularly gathered for socialising and formal dancing. Nhan, 65, and 10 other people were fatally shot when a gunman opened fire Saturday night at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, leaving their survivors devastated. Tiffany Liou, a reporter with WFAA television station in Dallas, said on Twitter that Nhan, her husband’s aunt, treated her nieces and nephews “like her own kids”. “Her kindness is what’s needed in this world,” Liou wrote. “She spent so many years going to the dance studio in Monterey Park on weekends,” a family statement posted by Liou said. “It’s what she loved to do. But unfairly, Saturday was her last dance.” Mymy Nhan was the first person shot and killed during the #MontereyPark mass shooting. I've covered a lot of tragedies, and never imagined one would hit so close to home. My husband's family is hurting beyond measure. Here's a statement on behalf of the family. pic.twitter.com/q5GXa0g4Kh — Tiffany Liou (@tliou) January 23, 2023 The massacre was the nation’s fifth mass killing this month, and it struck one of California’s largest celebrations of a holiday observed in many Asian cultures. Asian-Americans around the US have been the target of high-profile violence in recent years. Officials have not given a motive for the shooting but said the suspect Huu Can Tran, a 72-year-old Asian man, may have had a history of visiting the dance hall. He shot and killed himself on Sunday. The statement from Nhan’s family said: “We are starting the Lunar New Year broken. We never imagined her life would end so suddenly.” “If you knew her, you knew her warm smile and kindness was contagious,” the family said in the statement. “She was a loving aunt, sister, daughter and friend. Mymy was our biggest cheerleader.” Asian-Americans reeling after latest US gun massacre Liou wrote: “I’ve covered a lot of tragedies, and never imagined one would hit so close to home. My husband’s family is hurting beyond measure.” The Los Angeles County coroner’s office also confirmed the identity of victim Lilan Li, a 63-year-old woman. Friends and frequenters of the ballroom identified another victim as Ming Wei Ma, believed to be in his 60s. He was a frequent presence at the dance studio, and friends told a CBS affiliate that he was among the first to rush the shooter. “He was just caring, an ‘others first, people first’ kind of person,” Ma’s friend Eric Chen told local media. Official gofundme for another hero, the owner of the dance studio who first tried to stop the shooter. Will try to update with more ways to help the victims & their families... https://t.co/RRhFqP2lbk — philipwang (@philipwang) January 23, 2023 Lauren Woods, a tango dance instructor at the ballroom, said Ma was “the heart” of the studio. Woods wrote on her Facebook profile that Ma would greet her with a kiss on the cheek and say “my teacher! My teacher!” and “Love you! Love you!” The shooting death toll rose to 11 on Monday after one of the people who was wounded died. The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said that one of the four people being treated at the LA County-USC Medical Centre had died of gunshot wounds.