The man who fired a gun at a church in California on Sunday, killing one and injuring five, was a 68-year-old Chinese-American who was angry with the Taiwanese community, police said Monday.
The six victims of the shooting were from Taiwan, who were attending a banquet at this Laguna Woods church after the morning church service when the shooter opened fire.
With the pastor and worshipers overwhelmed as he reloaded his weapon, the shooter was identified by police as David Chou, 68-years-old.
According to Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, the man was a Chinese American citizen based in the United States since many years and worked as a security guard in the Las Vegas area.
The 60-year-old, who prepared his attack and was equipped with spare magazines and Molotov cocktails, acted with reasons political and hate speechsaid the sheriff at a press briefing.
Mentioned grades investigators discovered the suspect’s car, he reported grievances of this individual throughout the Taiwanese communitythat there is no evidence at this stage that he has any particular affiliation with that church or that he is targeting specific individuals.
” From what we have learned, we believe that he is specifically targeting the Taiwanese community and this Taiwanese Presbyterian Church is a representation of that community. “
The man killed by the suspect was a 52-year-old doctor, John Cheng, who died after charging the attacker with attempting to disarm him, giving other patrons time to neutralize him, including tying him with an extension cord.
Sheriff Barnes called Dr. Chen a heroes without it no doubt with another victim.
The suspect was taken into custody on $ 1 million bond.
Political and diplomatic tensions are high between Beijing and Taipei: the communist regime considers the island of Taiwan as one of its provinces set to return to its prison, if necessary by force.
Source: Radio-Canada
