The "Year of the Rabbit" began in horror on Sunday for the inhabitants of Monterey Park, the largely Asian American suburb of Los Angeles where a mass shooting left 10 people dead.

In this city of 60,000 people, red lanterns and banners in Chinese characters celebrating the Lunar New Year still fluttered over a roadway.

But around the dance hall where the shooting unfolded, yellow police tape and heavily armed policemen supplanted any sign of festivities.