David Chou, pictured here talking to his assistant public defender, Jennifer Ryan, opened fire on the Presbyterian Church in Geneva, authorities said. Dr. John Cheng charged him, but Chou shot and killed him, authorities said. (Chou image: Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP; and church image: AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
Following a related state case, federal authorities are charging a Chinese man with hate crimes for allegedly attacking a Taiwanese church and murdering a heroic doctor who charged him. The indictment was filed Thursday.
Authorities in Orange County, California previously said the accused, David Wen-Wei Chou, 69, attacked the Geneva Presbyterian Church in a mass shooting on May 15, 2022. US Citizen an immigrant from China, he opened fire on the church angered by political friction between Taiwan and his native nation, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said. That’s why Chou allegedly targeted a place with Taiwanese worshippers.
His “hatred of Taiwan has manifested” since he lived there in the past, “perhaps in his youth,” the sheriff said.
“He wasn’t well received while he was living there,” Barnes said, citing collected evidence.
Chou allegedly did all this to the innocents of the Presbyterian Church in Geneva. The Irvine Taiwan Presbyterian Church, which used the space for services, was hosting a lunchtime banquet celebrating the return of one of its pastors from a mission trip to Taiwan.
Chou, a Las Vegas resident, drove to the church, bringing with him two handguns and emergency magazines, authorities said. He also allegedly placed incendiary devices similar to Molotov cocktails throughout the building. During lunch, he secured the doors with chains and tried to disable the locks with superglue, Barnes said. He would have opened fire.
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About 50 people attended the banquet, mostly aged up to 92, authorities said. Cheng, one of the younger ones, lunged at Chou and tackled him, authorities said. This act of heroism cost Cheng his life.
Other parishioners tied Chou up, authorities said.
Dr John Cheng, the 52-year-old man killed yesterday in the Laguna Woods shooting, had tried to disarm the shooter. Other parishioners were then able to tie up the suspect. “Without the actions of Dr. Chang, there is no doubt that there were many other victims in this crime.” pic.twitter.com/01Q4E2UCSI
—Josie Huang (@josie_huang) May 16, 2022
The accused injured five survivors, authorities said. The sheriff’s office at the time described the injured as a 66-year-old man, a 75-year-old man, an 82-year-old man, an 86-year-old woman and a 92-year-old man. All were Asian. California authorities are currently prosecuting Chou for murder and other charges, including hate crimes.
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