What we know about the victims in the Monterey Park massacre

CNN
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Among the victims of a mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, on Saturday were a loving father, and a woman whose family called her one of their biggest cheerleaders.

Dozens in their 50s, 60s and 70s gathered to celebrate the Lunar New Year weekend when a 72-year-old gunman opened fire at the studio, which killed 11 and injured nine.

Authorities do not know why the shooting happened, but say the gunman fled and died Sunday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A timeline of the Monterey Park shooting

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office has identified four of the people slain: My Nhan, 65; Valentino Alvero, 68; Lilan Li, 63; and Xiujuan Yu, 57.

Here’s how family and friends want them to be remembered and how to help. As we learn more about their lives, we will continue to update this story.

Alvero, a hospitality worker, had plans to retire in a year with hopes of returning to his native Philippines, his son and namesake, Val Anthony Alvero told CNN’s David Culver. He hadn’t heard about the shooting until Sunday morning, he said.

Anthony described his father as someone who was “always upbeat and caring for others.”

Alvero spent his free time at the dance studio, Anthony said. Growing up, he remembers his dad dancing and singing around the house.

“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,” according to a family statement. “He loved ballroom dancing, he loved his community and was the life of any party.”

While Anthony wants to know more about what happened, he said it doesn’t add anything to the situation to be angry.

“I’d just like for better to come out of it,” he said. “The biggest thing I’d want other people to take away, I think regardless of this situation it’s always so important to cherish the time you have with people.”

Anthony said his father was the type of person who would push through emotions in moments of crisis, so to honor him, he’s trying to do the same.

Nhan, known to friends and family as Mymy, loved to dance and spent many years frequenting the dance studio.

She was known as her family’s “biggest cheerleader” and a “loving aunt, sister, daughter and friend,” according to a statement from her family.

Tiffany Liou, a reporter for CNN affiliate WFAA in Dallas, Texas told CNN and also posted on Twitter that Nhan was her husband’s aunt.

Nhan was the primary caretaker for her mother, who passed away four weeks ago, Liou said.

“They’re together now, dancing in heaven,” wrote on Twitter.

“Mymy treated her nieces/nephews like her own kids,” she said. “Her kindness is what’s needed in this world.”

The family started a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs as they grieve for two family members back to back.