Skip to main content
Donate

Local Heroes Honoree: Brandon Tsay, One Man Whose Courage Saved the Lives of Many

An Asian American man with a dark mustache and beard and dark hair falling over his forehead looks directly at the camera, wearing a white dress shirt buttoned all the way to the top under a dark jacket. In the background, the branches and leaves of large jade plants are visible inside a room with beige walls.
Brandon Tsay, a 2023 Local Heroes honoree, has been celebrated for his heroism on the night he single-handedly disarmed a gunman who entered a Monterey Park dance studio in January 2023.
By PBS SoCal Staff
November 15, 2023
Support Provided By

Honoree Name: Brandon Tsay
Organization/Business: Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio
Location: Alhambra
Website

About Brandon Tsay

Local Heroes celebrates Brandon Tsay for disarming gunman and saving many lives.

Brandon Tsay demonstrated remarkable courage on January 21, 2023, when he disarmed the Monterey Park, California mass shooter during Lunar New Year celebrations.

Tsay’s heroism has since been profiled with NBC News, Good Morning America, The New York Times, among others; and Tsay has been honored by US Representative Judy Chu, California Governor Gavin Newsom, the US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, the US Vice President Kamala Harris, by the 118th US Congress and at President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address.

Watch
Community seeks answers after deadly shooting in California
Community seeks answers after deadly shooting in California

Tsay was awarded a medal of courage from the Alhambra Police Department and now runs the Brandon Tsay Hero Fund in partnership with the Asian Pacific Community Fund.

Support Provided By
Up Next

Local Heroes Honoree: Meymuna Hussein-Cattan, Empowering Refugees, Immigrants and Communities In Need

A woman with long black hair in curls, wearing a bright blue blouse with a hot-pink pineapple print, smiles a toothy grin at the camera as she stands against a plain, light-pink background

Local Heroes: Amy J. Wong and Andrew Fung Yip, Celebrating Diverse BIPOC Stories in the San Gabriel Valley

Two people sit in chairs in front of library bookshelves, a dark-haired man with glasses wearing a brown henley shirt and light jeans on the left and a woman with glasses and shoulder-length dark hair wearing a blue shirt with a white floral pattern on the right, her hands placed on her knees.

Local Hero: Azucena Maldonado, Transforming Latinas' Lives Through Golf

A woman wearing glasses and a black visor hat smiles as she stands on a golf course green in a V-neck shirt that reads "Latina Golfers" and holds a white flag with the Latina Golfers logo by a handle.

Local Hero: Evelyn Aleman, Advocating for Low-Resource Students and Their Families

A woman with long brown hair wearing a light-blue ruffled, short-sleeved top sits and smiles gently at the camera, with a view of an office or coworking space in the background.

Local Hero: Florence Lin, Reaching Asian Communities With Vital Resources

An Asian woman with shoulder-length hair that flips up at the ends is turned slightly towards the camera against a beige backdrop, wearing a loose-fitting peach-colored top with a scoop neckline and a multi-colored floral pattern

Local Hero: Remigio 'Remi' Mateo, Helping Make the Great Outdoors More Inclusive

A man with slicked-back, short, dark hair wearing a white V-neck T-shirt under a dark suit jacket smiles slightly at the camera as he stands outside in the sunshine, with trees and other greenery visible in the background.

Local Hero: Ova Saopeng, Elevating the Refugee and Immigrant Experience

A man with a dark beard wearing a dark blue T-shirt smiles at the camera as his eyes crinkle in the daylight.

Local Hero: Victor Narro, Uniting Car Wash Workers Across L.A.

Victor-Narro-2.jpg

Monterey Park: A Pioneering Asian American Suburb Shaken by the Tragedy of a Mass Shooting

A masked mourner leans over a memorial consisting of heart-shaped cards bearing victims' names and messages, with flowers strewn at their bases

Investigators, Community Search for Answers in Monterey Park Shooting

A bouquet of flowers sits on a barrier blocking off the entrance to a Lunar New Year street fair, with a police vehicle visible in the background

Monterey Park Mass Shooting: Reactions Pouring In

Two bystanders look down at a makeshift memorial of flowers on the sidewalk at the base of a gate between two buildings