Doctor killed in mass shooting at Taiwanese church hailed as hero

The man killed in Sunday’s mass shooting in Laguna Woods, Calif., was hailed Monday as a hero by Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes.

After a gunman opened fire at Geneva Presbyterian Church, Dr. John Cheng “charged the individual and tried to disarm him,” Barnes said.

Cheng was shot as he approached the gunman, but the confrontation gave the other parishioners, many of whom were of Taiwanese descent, the opportunity to subdue the man later identified as David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas.

“Dr. Cheng is a hero in this incident,” Barnes said at a press conference on Monday, adding, “Without the actions of Dr. Cheng, there’s no doubt there’d be numerous more victims.”

Standing beside a photo of Cheng, Barnes said that there was “no doubt there’d be numerous more victims” had Cheng not interceded.

While Cheng was the only fatality in the incident, five others were wounded, police said.

Prosecutors said that the death penalty is possible for the gunman who was taken in alive after being tackled and hogtied by church members.

Chou, police said, is a U.S. citizen who immigrated from China and has lived in the country for many years.

Barnes said that on Saturday, Chou traveled to Orange County, staying the night in the area of the church. On Sunday, church members were hosting an afternoon lunch reception celebrating a former pastor who recently returned from a mission trip in Taiwan. Several people approached Chou and asked if he needed anything because he was not known to them, according to the sheriff.

As the event proceeded, Chou set about attempting to seal off exits using chains, super glue on locks and a hammer and nails. Police say he also brought a bag full of Molotov cocktails to the church.

Gunfire erupted shortly before 1:30 p.m., when between 40 and 50 people were inside the building, officials said.

Barnes said that based on the evidence collected in the case so far, the shooting appears to have been a “politically motivated hate incident” that appears to have been linked to decades-long political tensions between China and Taiwan.

Barnes added that Chou left notes behind that showed his hate for Taiwanese people. The suspect’s wife lives in Taiwan, Barnes said, although her nationality wasn’t available to investigators at this time.

Chou had been working as a security guard in Las Vegas and authorities believe he committed this attack alone. The FBI is continuing to work on establishing a motive for the shooting and have opened a federal hate crime investigation.

“We have discovered evidence that the individual was motivated by some type of hate,” said Kristi Johnson, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said he wanted to see where “Dr. Chen fell” first hand, and that Cheng was one of the youngest members of the congregation.

“He sacrificed himself so that others could live. That irony in a church is not lost on me,” Spitzer said.

The horrific crime in Laguna Woods was just the latest mass shooting to scar an American community. On Saturday, an 18-year-old man traveled to a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., and opened fire in what has been described as a racially motivated attack fueled by a white supremacist ideology. Authorities have said that a manifesto posted by the gunman was filled with hateful, racist and anti-immigrant views and that he had carved the N-word upon his weapon.

Chou has been charged with one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder, and four counts of unlawful possession of explosives.

Cheng, who worked in sports medicine, leaves behind a wife and two children, the sheriff said.