Laguna Woods church shooter charged with 98 federal hate crimes
A Nevada man has been charged with 98 counts of federal hate crimes, weapons and explosives offenses, including the murder of one person, injuring five and the attempted murder of 44 others in the May 15, 2022 attack at a Laguna Woods Taiwanese Presbyterian Church.
David Chou, 69, of Las Vegas was armed, had explosives, additional ammunition and had strategically sealed as many exits as possible in the church, as he was prepared to kill a large number of people on the day of his attack.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes described Chou as prepared, and "very intentional" in his well-thought-out plan, targeting the Geneva Presbyterian Church whose members had just finished their service and were holding a banquet in honor of a visiting pastor.
The FBI reported they recovered evidence that Chou was motivated by bias against the Taiwanese people.
"We know that he was very intentional in his plan. We know that he formulated a strategy that he wanted to employ. It was very well thought-out, from how he had prepared both being there, securing the locations, placing things about the inside of the room to perpetuate additional victims if he had the opportunity," Barnes said.
Chou used two legally purchased handguns and investigators at the crime scene found two bags containing Molotov cocktail-like explosives, and two more with additional magazines and ammunition.
When Chou began shooting, he managed to wound five people, ranging in ages from 66 to 92 years old. That was when sports physician Dr. John Cheng tackled him, getting fatally shot himself, but likely saving the lives of many.
Once Cheng tackled Chou, the pastor threw a chair at him and other parishioners subdued him and tied him up with an extension cord.
In Thursday's announcement of the charges, the Justice Department said Chou allegedly acted because of the victims' national origin and religion, and he intentionally obstructed the victims' religious exercise.
Some of the indictment charges include 45 counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act by attacking the church congregants because of their actual or perceived national origin and faith.
If convicted, Chou faces a maximum penalty of death or life in prison without parole. He is currently in state custody pending state criminal charges.
The FBI Los Angeles Field Office, the Orange County Sheriff's Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.
