Authorities: Hate against Taiwanese led to church attack in California
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 and the next day 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 MolotovBarnes 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 were able to subdue him and tie him up with extension cords.
Cheng died and five people were wounded, the oldest 92. Sheriff Don Barnes called Cheng’s heroism “a meeting of good versus evil“that probably saved the lives “of upwards of dozens of people.”
Chou was booked on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and jailed on $1 million bail. He was expected to appear in state court Tuesday. It was not clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. A federal hate crimes investigation is also ongoing.
There was no immediate word on why Chou chose to target the church in Laguna Woods, a scenic coastal area whose population mainly consists of retirees and is near a large gated community.
said the motive of the shooting was a grievance between the shooter, who he said was born in China and is a U.S. citizen, and the Taiwanese community. China claims Taiwan is a part of its national territory and has not ruled out force to bring the island under its rule.
Barnes said Chou acted alone and was not a regular attendee of the church.
“He is not believed to be associated with any specific church or any religion, and there’s no direct connection to the church or any member of the church that we’re aware of,” Barnes said.
A former neighbor said Chou’s life unraveled after his wife left him. Chou had been a pleasant man who used to own the Las Vegas apartment building where he lived until February, Balmore Orellana told The Associated Press. Records showed the four-unit property was sold last October for a little more than $500,000.
Orellana said Chou’s wife used the money from the sale to move to Taiwan.