‘Everyone would have died’ if I didn’t take his weapon, sez Calif. hero

The man who wrestled a gun away from the Monterey Park, Calif., mass shooting suspect feared “everyone would have died” at a second dance hall if he didn’t stop him, he said Monday.

Brandon Tsay, 26, confronted the gunman at his family’s Lai Lai Ballroom in Alhambra, Calif., located about 2 miles from the Monterey Park club where 10 people died Saturday night, according to ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

He said the gunman appeared to be looking for “people to harm.”

“He started prepping the weapon and something came over me,” Tsay, who works at Lai Lai, told ABC’s Robin Roberts. “I realized I needed to get the weapon away from him. I needed to take this weapon, disarm him.”

The suspect was identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, who officials say was found dead Sunday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a manhunt.

Investigators continued to search for a motive in the Saturday night shooting at Monterey Park’s Star Ballroom Dance Studio. Twenty to 30 minutes after the massacre, the confrontation at Lai Lai Ballroom occurred, according to authorities.

“When I got the courage, I lunged at him with both my hands, grabbed the weapon and we had a struggle,” Tsay (photo) said. “We struggled into the lobby, trying to get this gun away from each other. He was hitting me across the face, bashing the back of my head.”

The shooting in Monterey Park, a city with a large Asian population, followed a Lunar New Year celebration.

Tsay said he told the gunman after disarming him, “Get the hell out of here! I’ll shoot!”

“I thought he would run away, but he was just standing there contemplating whether to fight or to run,” Tsay told ABC.

“I really thought I would have to shoot him and he came at me. This is when he turned around and walked out the door, jogged back to his van. I immediately called police with the gun still in my hand.”