A man accused of killing one person and injuring five others in a 2022 shooting at a church in California’s Orange County has been indicted by a grand jury on federal charges, including those alleging hate crimes and obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs.
The 98-count indictment against David Wenwei Chou, accused of opening fire at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on May 15, 2022, was filed Wednesday in US District Court in California’s central district.
Chou, now 69, “allegedly acted because of the victims’ national origin and religion, and he intentionally obstructed the victims’ religious exercise,” the US Justice Department said.
Chou arrived at a church lunch banquet, attempted to lock the doors from the inside with chains and super glue and then opened fire at elderly churchgoers, officials have said. Chou also had a bag of Molotov cocktails and a bag of extra ammunition, according to authorities.
Dr. John Cheng, a family and sports medicine physician there with his recently widowed mother, charged at the man and was fatally shot. His efforts caused the gun to jam, authorities said.
Cheng, 52, was pronounced dead at the church, and authorities praised him as a hero for preventing further bloodshed.
A sidewalk memorial is seen in front of the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods a week after the May 2022 shooting.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)
Announcement
David Wenwei Chou is arraigned on state charges in the case in August 2022 in a court in Santa Ana, California. Chou has been indicted by a grand jury on federal charges on May 11.
(Mark Rightmire/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register)
Ashley Landis/Associated Press
Announcement
A man places flowers at a memorial honoring Dr. John Cheng sits outside his office building on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Cheng, 52, was killed in Sunday’s shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department displayed a photo Dr. John Cheng who was killed in the shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods
during a press conference outside the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in Santa Ana on Monday, May 16, 2022. Cheng was shot as he attempted to disarm the suspect. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Officials continue to investigate at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, CA on Monday, May 16, 2022, a day after a gunman entered the church. One person was killed and five others were wounded — four of them critically — in a shooting at a church. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
David Wenwei Chou, 68, of Las Vegas, in a booking shot on Monday, May 16, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Orange County Sheriff’s Department)
Laguna Woods resident Patricia Wallace places flowers in front of the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, CA on Monday, May 16, 2022, a day after a gunman entered the church. One person was killed and five others were wounded — four of them critically — in a shooting at a church. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Ilene Feng places flowers with a note that reads, “we love you” in Chinese outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church the day after a shooting in Laguna Woods, CA, on Monday, May 16, 2022.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A counselor attends to a grieving woman, center, outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, May 15, 2022 where one person died and four people were critically injured in a shooting. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
David Wenwei Chou, the 68-year-old Las Vegas man accused of carrying out a shooting rampage at a Laguna Woods church, makes his first in-person appearance in superior court for an arraignment in Santa Ana with Deputy Public Defender Jennifer Ryan on Friday morning, June 10, 2022. The arraignment was continued to August 19, 2022. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Orange County Sheriff’s deputies and investigators gather on Calle Sonora after one person died and four people were critically injured in a shooting at a Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, May 15, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Police and Fire vehicles block the intersection in front of Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods following a shooting there on Sunday, May 15, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)
One person died and four people were critically injured in a shooting at a Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, May 15, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Four men aged 66, 75, 82 and 92 and an 86-year-old woman were injured.
A pastor struck the gunman with a chair, and others hogtied the man and took at least two handguns from him, officials said.
The federal indictment charges Chou with 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force; 45 counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act; six counts of using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence; a count of attempting to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce by means of fire and explosives; and a count of carrying explosives during the commission of a federal felony offense.
CNN has sought comment from Chou’s attorney, Jennifer Ryan.
If Chou is convicted on the federal charges, he would face the death penalty or receive a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the Justice Department.
Chou already was being held in state custody awaiting trial on state criminal charges, the Justice Department said. He was charged last year in state court with counts including felony murder and premeditated attempted murder.
Politixia
