Man who disarmed suspected Monterey Park mass shooter: ‘Something came over me’

The man who wrestled a gun away from the man accused of killing 10 in Monterey Park, Calif., over the weekend said that “something came over me” before realizing he needed to disarm the suspect.

“I realized I needed to get the weapon away from him,” 26-year-old Brandon Tsay said to ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday. “I needed to take this weapon, disarm him, or else everybody would have died.”

Tsay came face-to-face with Huu Can Tran, 72, at a dance hall in Alhambra just minutes after Tran is believed to have shot and killed 10 people at another dance club in nearby Monterey Park. Video surveillance shows Tsay wrestling with Tran and taking the gun away. Tran fled the scene.

Police later surrounded Tran while he sat in a van on Sunday. Authorities say the suspect shot and killed himself in the vehicle. Police say there are no outstanding suspects in the shooting.

Police have yet to be able to determine a motive for the shooting. The town’s mayor on Monday said that Tran is believed to have visited the Monterey Park dance hall before and said that the shooting may be a result of personal relationships.

Tsay has drawn praise from law enforcement and local officials who have lauded his action at the Alhambra dance hall as heroic and life-saving. But Tsay said that the victims of the shooting and their families were the ones who were being courageous.

“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the ability to have adversity of fear,” Tsay said. “In crises like this, the people need courage. Especially the victims, their friends, their families … I hope they could find the courage and the strength to persevere.”