With connections to Maine and Monterey Park, councilman copes with trauma of mass shootings

Henry Lo, former Monterey Park mayor and current city councilmember, was in the midst of celebration when another place he considered a home fell victim to another instance of senseless violence.

Lo spent four years — 1993 to 1997 — in Maine while attending Colby College, just an hour outside of Lewiston, where a gunman on Wednesday, Oct. 25, went on a shooting rampage, killing 18 people and wounding 13.

Reading the news while visiting Taiwan for its Pride celebration, Lo said he felt the same wave of despair that came over him this past January, when 11 people were slain at Star Ballroom Dance Studio shooting on Garvey Avenue amid the city’s Lunar New Year celebration.

“When I got the text about the shooting, I was out that evening for Lunar New Year’s Eve, and this triggers the same emotions,” he said. “I am in shock that this was happening in a place that I knew, where people often would leave their doors unlocked, because there was always a sense of community and safety.”

Now — as of Thursday morning — it was an area on lockdown amid a massive hunt to arrest the man suspected of the shooting, who was considered armed and dangerous.

The hunt itself echoed the Monterey Park response, as authorities in January fanned out for a manhunt that ended the day after the shooting when the gunman killed himself inside a van miles away in Torrance.

Lo said he often visited Lewiston on the weekends with his friends in college. Waterville, where Colby College sits, is roughly half the size of Lewiston, and so students would visit the bigger town to shop, eat and socialize. Lo said that one of his fondest memories was driving through the lush, green state, passing by the tiny towns and stopping in Lewiston for ice cream.

“It just always is so lovely and picturesque,” Lo said. “I always understood why it was such a popular tourist space, as well. I mean, people go there in the summertime because it made such a beautiful place.”

This moment, he said, is full circle in too many ways.

“I was attending Colby when I found my first, actual internship in a legislative office setting,” he said. “In many ways, Colby attributed to the person I am today and this career that I have chosen.”

“I am in shock that this was happening in a place that I knew.” – Henry Lo, Monterey Park City Councilmember

Lo, who was in a position of leadership when a gunman killed 11 members of Monterey Park’s community, knows all to well the fallout of the damage the shooter has caused. He said he immediately called city officials to offer supportive word and aid should they ask for it.

“This makes me sick to my stomach,” he said. “I have since been texting with gun-violence-prevention advocates and we are all just angry and sad.”

Over the past year, Monterey Park has made a conscious effort to lobby for gun safety legislation at every level.

In August, the City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that will outlaw retail sales of gun sales within a 1,000-foot zone around “sensitive receptors” such as schools and residences.

On top of the local distress that Lo knows Lewiston leadership are grappling with, he added that the pain, fear and confusion will ripple out as an entire nation grieves yet another mass shooting — 565 to date according to live tally by The Gun Violence Archive.

The shooting in Maine’s second-largest city is the 36th mass killing in the United States this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 190 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people have died within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.

Before Lewiston, Monterey Park was the deadliest mass shooting this year, and known to be the deadliest ever in L.A. County.

Monterey Park supported other gun reform bills, including Senate Bill 14: Age 21 Act, Senate Bill 25: Assault Weapons Ban of 2023 and California Senate Bill 2, prohibiting a person from carrying a concealed firearm or carrying a loaded firearm in public.

Yet, while California has reacted to curb similar carnage, movement is slower on a federal level. Following the news in Maine, President Joe Biden and leaders locally and across the country have called once again for strict gun reforms.

“I’m heartbroken about yesterday evening’s mass shooting in Maine, which now surpasses the tragedy in January in my hometown of Monterey Park, California, as the deadliest attack in America this year,” said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, said in a statement. “This is a club whose membership I wish on no one. My heart goes out to the survivors, victims’ families, and the entire community, who I know are now enduring unimaginable loss and face a long road toward recovery.”

“The new Speaker of the House has an opportunity to unite Congress and help put a stop to gun violence in America. I sincerely hope he seizes that opportunity to save future communities the unbearable trauma of gun violence,” Chu added.