Los Angeles: At least ten people were killed and 10 others were injured when a gunman opened fire in the US city of California on Saturday, during the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve.

The shooting took place at about 22:20 local time at a ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park on Saturday night, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said, reported Los Angeles Times.

Firefighters pronounced 10 of the victims dead at the scene, sheriff’s capt. Andrew Meyer told Los Angeles Times.

"At least 10 others were taken to numerous local hospitals, and their conditions range from stable to critical."

Meyer said investigators don’t know whether the victims were targeted.

He said it was too early to know whether the shooting was a hate crime.

“We will look at every angle,” he said.

Seung Won Choi, who owns a seafood barbecue restaurant on Garvey Avenue across from where the shooting happened, told Los Angeles Times that three people rushed into his restaurant and told him to lock the door.

They said there was a man with a semiautomatic gun in the area. The shooter, they said, had multiple rounds of ammunition on him, so that once his ammunition ran out he reloaded, Choi said.