By: Leon Cui

Although it has already been half a year after the gun shot incident in Monterey Park, CA, it is still heavily affecting the nine victims that have been injured, and the families of the 11 people who are killed.

Reporter Summer Lin writes, “Six months later, the tragedy has left many survivors in the depths of depression and anxiety, but it also has brought fellow dancers together, forging new relationships. Some have joined in the fight for stronger gun control measured. Others have realized how much they need dancing in their lives.”

One survivor named Amy had multiple friends killed, including her dance partner. She still has problems in her daily life due to injury and trauma from the incident. She would tell her friend Lin, “I tried not to think about the incident, but it would show up in my mind, and I couldn’t stop it, I would be frightened so severely. I could see the bloody scene and was so scared to relive the event. Once it showed up in my mind, I couldn’t sleep at all.”

Lloyd Gock, another survivor, has even decided to continue dancing with his friends, though less than before the incident, while other survivors have been struggling and depressed. He says, “if you stop dancing, then the shooter got what he wanted, which is to terrorize us into not being able to dance. That was his whole main purpose. I was advocating for everyone to come back to dancing.” Gock has been advocating for better laws for gun control after the incident, which included banning firearms and other weapons, and also for the red flag laws to be officially passed.