1 dead, 5 injured, man arrested in shooting at California Asian church reception
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 2 years ago • 23 commentsBy: Andrew Blankstein, Jonathan Dienst and Dennis Romero
One person was killed and five other people were injured in a shooting at a meeting of Asian churchgoers in Southern California on Sunday, authorities said.
Members of the congregation detained a suspect who appeared to be in his 60s by hogtying him with electrical extension cords, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Undersheriff Jeff Hallock said at an earlier press conference that congregants confiscated at least two handguns that were later seized by deputies.
The department Sunday night announced the man has been formally arrested in connection with the deadly attack. His name will be released when he's booked into jail, it said in a statement.
Amid fears of another possible hate crime, the man in custody was described by law enforcement sources as also being of Asian descent. The description was later confirmed by Hallock.
Gunfire was reported at Geneva Presbyterian Church at 1:26 p.m. in the retirement city of Laguna Woods, about 20 miles southeast of Anaheim, the sheriff's department said. Four victims suffered critical injuries, it said.
Sunday night the department identified the injured as Asian Americans ranging in age from 66 to 92. Four are men. The identity of the deceased was being withheld pending notification of loved ones.
The victim's body was discovered at the scene, sheriff's officials said. All of the surviving victims, including a person with minor injuries, were hospitalized.
Sheriff's officials said as many as 40 people who belong to a Taiwanese church were at the facility when gunfire broke out.
Police sources who described the suspect as Asian stressed that the investigation was in its very preliminary stages and that they have not determined any motive.
Hallock acknowledged concerns over rising hate crime but urged people to await more information as the inquiry continued Sunday night.
He praised the quick actions of the congregation.
"They undoubtedly prevented additional injuries and fatalities," Hallock said. "It appears that one or more of the congregants did act quite heroically."
Investigators were still trying to determine where the man in custody resides and whether he has any relationship to the congregation or the facility. "No information on age or date of birth," Hallock said.
It does not appear that anyone else is wanted, the sources said earlier. Detectives hope serial numbers on the firearms might help them find out more about the suspect, officials said.
Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church, a name that refers to a nearby city, was scheduled to meet at the facility at 10 a.m., according to its website.
Tom Cramer, a co-executive at a network of Orange County Presbyterian churches, the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, said the violence took place during a luncheon honoring a former pastor of the Taiwanese congregation.
The organization "is deeply saddened by a fatal shooting that occurred at a lunch reception," he said in a statement. "Please keep the leadership of the Taiwanese congregation and Geneva in your prayers as they care for the those traumatized by this shooting."
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said agents based in Los Angeles were assisting sheriff's investigators. The FBI also responded and is contributing to the investigation, the sheriff's department said Sunday night.
Laguna Woods and Laguna Woods Village are relatively exclusive communities for people 55 and older and their companions or loved ones. Large parts of it, including the village, are gated.
The city is composed of single-family homes, town houses and apartment-style residences. It opened as Leisure World in 1964. It became the county's 32nd city in 1999.
Authorities asked people to avoid the area, noting that multiple roads were closed.
On Friday police in Dallas said they were looking for a person who might be targeting people of Asian background in a series of shootings. The last of three such attacks injured three women from South Korea, officials said.
Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the department's inquiry was a hate crime investigation. Attacks against Asian Americans have skyrocketed in recent years.
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At the risk of being labelled a "know all" I repeat my reference to Australia's worst mass shooting n 1996, and the subsequent federal and state governments immediate response. Whilst we still have illegal weapons and criminal activities in the community, it doesn't come within cooee of USA incidents.
Refer para on "Community and Government response"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)#Community_and_government_reaction
Evening Way...yep remember that day like y'day. Know exactly where I was and where I had been...
As I stated in the article about the 10 shot dead the day before in the US....
Port Arthur rattled this country to the core and shattered us completely...and I hope it never happens here again.
You don't have our 2nd Amendment.
For which we give our eternal thanks 😊
Evening Drinker..yep got to be happy with that.
But we are very well armed here and have a different mind set when it comes to guns..
Exactly, history shapes us.
So I guess this story won't amount to much?
Nope.
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The victims are still as dead.
It did turn out to be a hate crime.
The man in custody is Asian.
Hate crimes occur on the basis of religion and on the basis of race, but his motivation was the the treatment he had undergone by Taiwanese people, and due to his deranged mind he took his revenge out on any Taiwanese people. Note the Politico article I referred to in my comment below.
So it's not a hate crime?
I heard on the news this morning that this shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.
I indicated my opinion about it. I'm not sure of the parameters of what is considered a hate crime, so I can't make that call.
I thought you gave a very good definition:
Hate crimes occur on the basis of religion and on the basis of race
Of course Holden and Garland would disagree. For them the victims can never be white.
If the shooter is Black or Islamic the story tends to disappear quickly
It was on tonight's news, so no.
The death toll might have been higher if not for the heroic actions by some of the parishioners, some of who had military training. They took him down and hog tied him until the police came.
This just in.................
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/deadly-church-shooting-motivated-by-taiwan-china-conflict-police/ar-AAXj5Ae?
Yep just read that myself, so it wasn't racially inspired hatred just politically inspired hatred
The guy had to be deranged, a twisted mind. This Politico story relates personal reasons for his grudge which have to do only with his individual experiences. (LINK) ->
The Chinese people generally, to the best of my knowledge, have neither fear nor hatred of the Taiwanese people, and any differences or policies lie only on a political level.