Los Angeles Times

Brandon Tsay disarmed a mass killer. Where does he go from here?

LOS ANGELES — Brandon Tsay had not slept. As he lay in the quiet bedroom of his childhood home, he tried to wrap his head around the previous night. He had disarmed a mass shooter, aided police investigators for hours and finally returned home, only to find himself wide awake when he crawled into bed. “I was still trying to contemplate what had just happened to me, what had I just done?” Tsay ...
Brandon Tsay on Jan. 25, 2023, in San Marino, California.

LOS ANGELES — Brandon Tsay had not slept.

As he lay in the quiet bedroom of his childhood home, he tried to wrap his head around the previous night.

He had disarmed a mass shooter, aided police investigators for hours and finally returned home, only to find himself wide awake when he crawled into bed.

“I was still trying to contemplate what had just happened to me, what had I just done?” Tsay said.

The 26-year-old replayed the events: hearing the click of metal when a stranger entered his family’s Alhambra dance studio; staring into the armed man’s empty, menacing eyes; wresting the gun away; the shock and despair as news spread of the massacre that had occurred just a few miles away.

He had no idea how those seconds wrestling with the gunman would change his life.

Within hours, reporters were camped outside his house. His phone exploded with calls, texts and emails. President Biden phoned, thanking him for his bravery. He appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and in The New York Times. Gov. Gavin Newsom visited him in person, as did news anchor Lester Holt, who interviewed him for the “NBC Nightly News.” Then the invitation arrived for Tuesday’s

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