An 11th victim has died from injuries after an elderly gunman’s deadly rampage at a Los Angeles-area dance hall, as authorities search for a motive behind one of the state’s worst mass shootings.

Police identified 72-year-old Huu Can Tran as the suspect in the massacre, which took place during a Lunar New Year celebration at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, a dance hall popular with older patrons of Asian descent.

Tran killed 10 people on Saturday night and wounded 10 others, then travelled to another dance hall where his attack was thwarted. He later fatally shot himself.

An 11th person had died on Monday from injuries sustained during the shooting, Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese told reporters.

Tran, whom a former tenant described to Reuters as “angry and distrustful”, killed 10 people between the ages of 50 and 80 and wounded 10 others.

On Sunday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said “everything is on the table” in terms of identifying the reasons for the shooting.

Officers in Hemet, about 130 kilometres east of Los Angeles, assisted investigators by searching Tran’s mobile home in a gated senior living community.

The search began on Sunday night and continued on Monday. Tran had not been known to Hemet police, a spokesman said.

Tran had an active trucking licence and had owned a company called Tran’s Trucking Inc with a post office box address in Monterey Park, according to online records.

He had lived in the Los Angeles area since at least the 1990s and moved to the mobile home in Hemet in 2020.

Adam Hood, a longtime tenant of the alleged gunman at a property in the Los Angeles area, told Reuters Tran was an aggressive and suspicious person who had few friends. But he liked ballroom dancing, largely his only social activity.

Mr Hood said Tran complained that people at the Star Ballroom studio were talking behind his back.

“He was a good dancer in my opinion,” Mr Hood said. “But he was distrustful of the people at the studio, angry and distrustful. I think he just had enough.”

Tran’s rampage could have been worse. About 20 minutes after the shooting in Monterey Park, he entered the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio dance club in the neighbouring city of Alhambra.

There, Brandon Tsay, who operates the family-run dance hall, wrestled a weapon away from the shooter before he could fire.

“That moment, it was primal instinct,” Mr Tsay told the New York Times, saying the gunman fled after a short struggle. “Something happened there. I don’t know what came over me.”

About 12 hours later, police officers in Torrance, 30km southwest of Monterey Park, cornered a white cargo van that Tran was driving.

As officers neared the van, they heard a single gun shot from inside as Tran killed himself.

Authorities have not yet released names of all the victims, who were between 50 and 80 years old.

The Los Angeles Coroner’s Office said two women, My Nhan, 65, and Lilan Li, 63, were among the dead. ABC News identified one of the dead as dance instructor Ming Wei Ma.

A candlelight vigil for the victims was scheduled for Monday evening at Monterey Park’s city hall.

Mr Luna said the pistol that Tran used was likely illegal in California, having a magazine whose capacity exceeded the state limit of 10 rounds.

The shooting took place during a two-day Chinese Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, which draws thousands of people.

Some in Monterey Park, whose residents are predominantly Asian, initially feared the shooting was a hate crime targeting Asians.

– AAP