Puerto Rico: At the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio, Saturday night was drawing to a close with less than half an hour remaining until closing. On the dance floor, there were still three people. When Brandon Tsay, the third generation of the family that runs the Alhambra dance hall, heard the front doors close and a strange clang that sounded like metallic objects hitting each other, he was in the office off the lobby.
A semi-automatic assault rifle was pointed at him when he turned around. He was not concealing the fact that he was attempting to harm me by looking around and at me. Tsay, 26, recalled on Sunday, 24 hours after he confronted a gunman who had opened fire on another ballroom, killing ten people, that his eyes were menacing. The gunman, identified by authorities as Huu Can Tran, 72, arrived at Lai Lai about 20 minutes later.
Tsay fought off the gunman and eventually disarmed him, preventing another tragedy and saving numerous lives. Tsay said that the gunman's weapon showed that he wanted to do as much damage as possible. I knew it wasn't for stealing money because of how it was made and customized, "Tsay said of the gun. The younger Tsay, who was a computer programmer, estimated it to be around 10. On Saturday, at 35 p.m. local time, he turned to face the unidentified gunman. He stated, "I knew I was going to die." He lunged, grabbed the weapon by the barrel, and began battling the gunman for control the following instant. It was pure instinct at the time, he stated. I'm not sure what possessed me.
For about a minute and a half, they fought over who had control of the gun. The assailant took one hand off the weapon at one point as he looked down at it, as if he were manipulating it to fire. Tsay claimed that he seized the opportunity and removed the man's pistol. He yelled, "He pointed the weapon back at him." He recalled, "Get the h**l out of here." Tsay claimed that he was traumatized and unable to comprehend what had transpired.