Family Mourns ‘Our Biggest Cheerleader’ Who Died in Dance Studio Massacre

Grieving loved ones began identifying victims who were slaughtered Saturday night at a Lunar New Year celebration inside a Los Angeles County dance hall, just as officials

confirmed Monday that all 10 killed were at least 50 years old. The family of 65-year-old Mymy Nhan said in a statement that she was the first person killed Saturday night

at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park—a city flush with Chinese immigrants and Chinese-Americans. Nhan had frequented the dance hall for years, her family said,

adding that “Saturday was her last dance.” “If you knew her, you knew her warm smile and kindness was contagious,” the statement read. “She was a loving aunt, sister,

daughter and friend. Mymy was our biggest cheerleader.” The studio’s owner, Ming Wei Ma, was also killed in the gunfire. Multiple instructors from the dance hall identified

Ma as one of the victims in a series of Facebook posts, with one of his friends telling CBS News that he was gunned down while trying to stop the shooter. “He was the first

to rush the shooter,” Eric Chen told CBS. “He was just caring, and others first, people first kind of person.” Nina Zhiting Yang, an instructor at Star Ballroom Dance

Studio, posted Sunday that “Mr. Ma” had taken a chance on her when she was 19 or 20 to become an instructor—despite being new to Los Angeles with no experience instructing and

not-perfect English. Marek Klepadlo, another instructor, said Sunday night that he and Yang were not at the studio when shots rang out. “There are many who were not so

lucky last night,” Klepadlo posted. “It weighs very heavily on our heart and words cannot describe how we feel.”