The memories of ‘Andy’ Kao are vivid for Francois Ung and his wife Shally: A great sense of humor. A man who helped them with their Arcadia donut business, and who over time felt like part of their own family, including when they bonded over ballroom dance.

And then came Jan. 21, 2023, when a two-second move during a jive dance saved Shally’s life amid a gunman’s rampage at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. Kao made that move, shielding her life, sacrificing his.

“He was in front of Shally. He took the bullet for her,” said Ung on Friday, just days before what will be one year exactly since that day.

It’s the of memory Kao – Mr. Nice, as he was known — and 10 others who died in the shooting that should be permanently memorialized, said Ung.

It’s in the works.

Monterey Park wants to have a permanent memorial honoring the 11 victims of the Star Ballroom Dance Studio shooting to honor the fallen and bring the community closure – but it is still a work in progress, city officials said this week.

After discussion from the City Council at its meeting in September, early stages of planning began, suggesting forming a memorial committee, and requesting staff to research similar memorials and the strategies employed to make it happen.

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With sites of mass shootings increasingly dotting the United States, such memorials have become more common place: San Bernardino, Aurora, Colo., Orlando, Fla., Newtown, Conn. all have memorials where the dead are remembered.

Officials in Las Vegas recently approved a plan to honor the 58 initial victims of the massacre on the Las Vegas Strip in October 2017. In that shooting, a gunman opened fire from a 32nd-floor suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel on a country music festival crowd on the Las Vegas strip, making it the deadliest such shooting in American history. Among the hundreds injured, two people initially survived but died in subsequent years.

Locally, temporary memorials have been elaborate, drawing many to reflect on the dead. But they have been just that: temporary.

Monterey Park officials were eager to set up a process for robust community engagement on memorial planning.

City staffers are working on those early stages of planning and reaching out to folks who have served on similar memorial committees in other communities that have experienced mass casualty events, said Assistant City Manager Diana Garcia.

Dancer Adelle Castro, 68, of Temple City, left, hugs a woman in January 2023 at the memorial for the victims of the Monterey Park mass shooting at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where 11 of her friends were killed. (File photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Background and research is necessary to learn more about the process, experience, and best practices that these communities went through with such projects, Garcia said.

“A lot of the feedback that we’ve got from folks who have gone through similar things is that it’s really important to provide a bit of time in between the event for people to really process what’s happened and to grieve and to mourn before moving forward,” Garcia said.

On Jan. 21, 2023, a gunman walked into the studio and opened fire, killing My My Nhan, 65; LiLan Li, 63; Xiujuan Yu, 57; Muoi Dai Ung, 67; Hongying Jian, 62; Yu-Lun Kao, 72; Chia Ling Yau, 76; Valentino Marcos Alvero, 68; Wen-Tau Yu, 64; Ming Wei Ma, 72; and Diana Man Ling Tom, 70. The dancers were enjoying the regular dance event at the studio, amid the community’s broader celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Immediately after, the city focused on survivors and victims’ families and moved to provide mental health support to residents. The Star Ballroom Dance Studio closed, and surrounding businesses, mostly restaurants, saw a fall in customers.

A man walks a baby carriage past the memorial to the shooting victims at the Monterey Park City Hall on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A year later, and the community and businesses have slowly gone back to normal — but not like how it was before.

Since the Sept. 8 meeting, the memorial committee has yet to be set up, Garcia said. Additionally, memorial location, cost, funding and community participation are all uncharted territory.

Conversations and direction from the city council will continue, she said, but staff does not quite know yet when it will be back on an agenda. Garcia reassured that it is still a project that the city will be continuing to work on.

In the meantime, Garcia reminds residents that have been affected by the tragedy in Monterey Park that they can also visit MPK Hope Resilliency Center, at 311 N. Rural Drive⁣, throughout the week for support and other community activities.

All the while, the Ungs have set up their own remembrance, pledging that they will send proceeds from sales at their Arcadia Donuts on Jan. 20 and 21 to the Monterey Park Hope and Resiliency Center and the Andy Kao Memorial Ballroom Dance Group to assist funding the non-profit organizations.

On one hand, he said, they will never forget Andy Kao. And yet, “I know Andy would want us to move on,” Ung said. “He’s dancing with us.”

Related links

Monterey Park timeline: For jolted community, days of mourning morph into time of healing
In year since Monterey Park mass shooting, California has passed a bevy of new gun laws
At Alhambra dance studio, step 1 is to remember. Step 2: ‘to move on as a community together’
Monterey Park mayor delivers State of the City, describing a ‘dramatically changed’ city

City Editor Ryan Carter contributed to this story.