Asian communities in New Jersey that celebrated the Lunar New Year Sunday were concerned after a shooting at a California celebration that ended with 10 people dead.

A youth group at the New Jersey Joyful Church in Fort Lee had a small celebration. The group meets every Sunday and felt safe, though they are aware of the growing number of targeted hate crimes toward Asians.

"The neighborhood and the area I live in and the people I'm around, I feel pretty safe but I do acknowledge that things are getting dangerous," said Jujee Kim, of Palisades Park.

Local politicians spoke out about the shooting in California, including Gov. Phil Murphy and Rep. Andy Kim who tweeted, "I feel overwhelmed by emotion right now as I wake up after celebrating Lunar New Years with my family."

Murphy tweeted, "When any community cannot gather to celebrate without fear of being the victim of the next mass shooting, we have lost our way."

"A shooting like that happening shows that some people do not want this to happen and there's some hate towards it which should not be the case," said Ashley Gil, of Fort Lee.

The website stopaapihate.org reported record anti-Asian hate incidents at over 11,000 between March 2020 and March 2022.