California church shooter upset over Taiwan-China tensions -police (updated)

Mandarin Oriental International

16/05/2022 17:13

(Adds Taiwan response, background)
    By Sharon Bernstein and Andrew Hay
    May 16 (Reuters) - The man accused of killing a doctor and
wounding five other people in a shooting at a Taiwanese-American
church banquet in California methodically planned the attack
because he was upset over Chinese-Taiwanese tensions,
authorities said on Monday.
    The suspect, David Chou, 68, chained the doors and placed
glue in the locks at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods,
California, about 45 miles (72 km) southeast of Los Angeles,
before opening fire inside the church on Sunday, Orange County
Sheriff Don Barnes said Monday. 
    Up to 40 people, members of a Taiwanese Presbyterian
congregation from nearby Irvine, California, that has space in
the church, were attending a luncheon honoring a former local
pastor when the shooting began, sheriff's officials said.
    Chou, described by the sheriff as a U.S. citizen and Las
Vegas resident born in China, drove to Southern California on
Saturday and came to the church on Sunday morning, authorities
said. After the shooting, investigators found three bags placed
around the church building with various items, including
additional ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-like devices.
    The FBI said it was opening a hate crimes investigation in
the case.
    The sheriff's department issued a statement late on Monday
saying investigators had "determined that the suspect was upset
about political tensions involving China and Taiwan" but did not
elaborate.
    In Chou's car, Barnes said, investigators found notes
written in Mandarin that indicated an obsession with Taiwan and
a dislike of Taiwanese people.
    China views Taiwan, a democratically governed island, as its
"sacred" territory and has never renounced the possible use of
force to bring it under Beijing's control. 
    Taiwan rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying that it
is already independent and that only its 23 million people can
decide their future. 
    All of the victims - whose names have not been released -
were of Asian heritage. 
    The gun violence in California came on the same day as a
separate mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly
Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, that left 10 people
dead and three others wounded. Most of the victims of that
attack, which the FBI has labeled an act of racially motivated
violent extremism, were Black.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2X80NG
    Among those killed in the Laguna Woods church shooting was a
physician Dr. John Cheng, 52, who was shot when he tackled the
gunman, Barnes said, crediting Cheng's act of bravery with
preventing more fatalities.
    Subduing Chou gave other congregants, including a pastor,
the opportunity to overpower him and tie his legs with an
electrical cord, detaining him until sheriff's deputies arrived
and broke through the chains on the doors.
    Chou, who remains in custody, was believed to be acting
alone, Barnes said. He purchased two guns used in the attack
legally in Las Vegas, where he rented a room in a shared home.
He likely will be charged with one count of murder, five counts
of attempted murder and four counts of unlawful possession of
explosives at an arraignment set for Tuesday, Orange County
District Attorney Todd Spitzer told reporters.
    The wounded, four men ranging in age from 66 to 92 and an
86-year-old woman, were taken to area hospitals for treatment,
the sheriff's department said. 
    The shooting unfolded during a lunch reception the Taiwanese
Presbyterian Church congregation had arranged for a former
pastor who had left United States and relocated in Taiwan but
returned for a visit, Tom Cramer, leader of the Presbytery of
Los Ranchos and a former pastor at the Geneva Presbyterian
Church, said in an interview.
    Spitzer said he was considering seeking the death penalty in
the case, though California has not executed a prisoner in more
than a decade. Spitzer said he visited the church social hall on
Sunday to see the carnage for himself. 
    Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was deeply concerned about the
incident and has instructed the island's foreign ministry to
help the victims and their families, the ministry said on
Tuesday. 

 (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California,
Kanishka Singh in Washington and Andrew Hay in New Mexico;
Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in Taipei; Editing by Jonathan
Oatis, Heather Timmons and Rosalba O'Brien)
 ((Kanishka.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; +12024508248;))