Report: Calif. suspect sent diary to newspaper
SANTA ANA, Calif. – The man accused of opening fire on a Southern California church congregation because of his political hatred of Taiwan dubbed himself a “destroying” angel in a seven-volume diary sent to a newspaper before the attack, the paper said Wednesday.
David Chou, 68, spent $16.10 to mail seven thick photocopied volumes of handwritten Chinese text and a flash drive to the World Journal office in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park, according to photos published in the Chinese-language paper.
The newspaper said the pages bore the title: “Diary of an Angel Destroying Independence” in an apparent reference to Taiwan’s self-government. The Chinese Communist Party continues to demand Taiwan reunify with China.
The diary pages were received in the daily mail Monday, one day after authorities say Chou opened fire at a lunch gathering of older parishioners at Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in the community of Laguna Woods.
The newspaper didn’t report the contents of the diaries and nobody there apparently read through them before sending them to the police through the paper’s attorney, said an employee who declined to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak openly.
The newspaper’s lawyer, however, told The Orange County Register late Wednesday that the papers were given to him late Tuesday and he still had them.
Attorney Maxwell Lin of West Covina said that he will share the papers with law enforcement when he receives a subpoena.
“We have no intention of withholding anything,” Lin told the Register.
“Time will tell how important” the papers are, he said.
Investigators were aware of the reports that the journals were sent to the newspaper, according to Orange County sheriff’s spokesperson Carrie
Braun.
One person was killed and five were wounded. Chou could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of murder and attempted murder. He has not yet entered a plea and remained jailed without bail in Orange County pending a June 10 arraignment.
County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has said Chou was motivated by hatred for Taiwan, where he was born after his family was forced from mainland China when Communists prevailed in a civil war that ended in 1949. He apparently chose the church at random and didn’t know anyone there before he drove to California from Las Vegas on Saturday, authorities said.
Authorities have said Chou sat through a church service before attending the luncheon in honor of a former pastor, where he mingled with the parishioners for about 40 minutes before chaining and nailing shut exit doors and opening fire.
When the gunfire erupted, Dr. John Cheng, 52, charged Chou and was shot but authorities said he may have saved dozens of lives.
The shooting shook Southern California’s Taiwanese community.
Louis M. Huang, director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, urged community members to report to the police if they see something that concerns them.