March held from Union Square to Chinatown to honor Monterey Park victims
NEW YORK -- After 11 people were killed during Lunar New Year celebrations in Monterey Park, California, over the weekend, New Yorkers gathered Monday to honor the victims.
The anti-violence organization Gays Against Guns marched from Union Square to Chinatown. The organization has been holding demonstrations after mass shootings since the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016.
READ MORE: California mass shooting raises anxiety among Asian American communities in New Jersey
The group is in favor of stricter gun laws and a national ban on assault weapons.
"This is so awful. These are, it sounds like, mostly elder Asian Americans celebrating the holiday and all I could do is think about my own dad who is still in Korea and I just called to wish him happy new year and a lot of these were older trying to celebrate the new year," protester Sonni Mun said. "It's just horrific what we accept as norm in this country."
The organization says it's important to rally like this so people do not become desensitized to mass shootings.
Derrick Leon, executive director of the group Asians Fighting Injustice, said it felt like a gut punch to learn the suspected shooter was an Asian man.
"When this news came out it was like, 'Oh my God,'" Leon said. "That person knows exactly what the Lunar New Year is about. That's the time you spend with your family, and he made sure 11 people would never get time to spend with their family again."