Officials: Hate led to attack on church

A Chinese-born gunman motivated by hatred against Taiwan chained shut the doors of a California church and hid firebombs before opening fire on a gathering of mainly of elderly Taiwanese parishioners, killing a man who tackled him to save possibly dozens of lives, authorities said Monday.

David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas drove to Orange County on Saturday. The next day he attended a lunch held by Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church, which worships at Geneva Presbyterian Church in the community of Laguna Woods. Though he knew no one there, he spent about an hour mingling with about 40 attendees and executed his plot, authorities said at a news conference.

He chained the doors and used super glue on the locks. He had two 9mm handguns and two bags — one with four Molotov-cocktail-type incendiary devices and the other with extra ammunition. He opened fire and in the ensuing chaos Dr. John Cheng, 52, tackled him and then other parishioners subdued him and tie him up.

Cheng died and five people were wounded, the oldest 92.

Sheriff Don Barnes called Cheng ’s heroism “a meeting of good versus evil.”