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California Church Shooting Was ‘Hate Incident,’ Sheriff Says - The New York Times

California Church Shooting Was ‘Hate Incident,’ Sheriff Says - The New York Times

California Church Shooting Was ‘Hate Incident,’ Sheriff Says - The New York Times
May 17, 2022 1 min, 44 secs

The man who opened fire on a Taiwanese congregation in Laguna Woods, Calif., killing one and injuring five, was motivated by political hatred, the Orange County Sheriff said.

— Gathered to celebrate a beloved former pastor, snapping photographs of their Sunday church luncheon, the members of the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church did not pay much attention, at first, to the 68-year-old stranger in their midst.

A small congregation that never had its own building, the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church is mostly a congregation of older Christian immigrants who worship weekly in Taiwanese, their first language.

They meet on Sundays on the campus of the larger Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, a suburb dominated by a gated community for residents 55 and older.

The sheriff said Mr.

Most of the victims came from Taiwan and ranged in age from 66 to 92, Sheriff Barnes said.

Authorities and witnesses said that one church member charged the gunman as he fired apparently at random with two firearms that he had legally bought.

John Cheng, 52, of Laguna Niguel, a sports physician and co-founder of the nearby South Coast Medical Group, was shot and killed after he tackled the gunman and tried to disarm him, Sheriff Barnes said.

Cheng, who was not a church member, had picked up his mother from her home at Laguna Woods Village and taken her to church on Sunday.

The gunman had secured the church doors with chains and had attempted to disable the locks with glue, Sheriff Barnes said, adding that he also tried to nail one of the building’s doors shut.

Bags filled with magazines of ammunition, as well as several incendiary devices, were found on the church grounds, the sheriff said.

The sheriff said Mr.

“I believe his hatred of Taiwan manifested when he was residing there in previous years, possibly in his youth,” Sheriff Barnes said.

Sam Huang, a member of the Taiwanese community in Laguna Woods, said, however, that the diverse area’s well-established Chinese and Taiwanese communities exhibited few tensions.

He is a member of the congregation but did not attend church on Sunday.

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

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