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News > Taiwan

The US Laguna Church Gunmen Chou Was A Licensed Security Guard

  • Laguna Church Gunmen David Chou, U.S.

    Laguna Church Gunmen David Chou, U.S. | Photo: Twitter/ @traviscrice

Published 17 May 2022
Opinion

Chou, who is being held at Orange County Central Jail, worked for three different security firms from Las Vegas and was licensed to carry a gun in his work until October 2022.

U.S. State records in Nevada showed that David Chou, who shot to death one person and wounded five others at a Taiwanese-American church luncheon in California on Sunday, was licensed to work as an armed security guard.

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Chou, who is being held at Orange County Central Jail, worked for three different security firms from Las Vegas and was licensed to carry a gun in his work until October 2022. On Saturday, he drove 300 miles from Las Vegas to Southern California carrying two semi-automatic weapons and four incendiary devices.

He fired the Taiwanese Presbyterian congregation members attending a luncheon in the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, a community of mostly retired people in Los Angeles. Five people between 66 and 92 years old were wounded, and the 52-year-old medic John Cheng was shot dead when he tackled Chou.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles acknowledged that Chou was born in Taiwan in 1953, had done military service there, and still had an active Taiwanese Passport. However, prosecutors found a note written by him in Mandarin condemning the current tensions between the Island and the Chinese mainland.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said that he plans to add a hate crime enhancement to Chou's charges, which comprise murder, attempted murder, and felony related to four Molotov bombs he placed behind a curtain in the church.

Spitzer also said that he was strongly considering asking for the death penalty in the case, even though California has not executed a prisoner in over a decade. "That suspect was ready to kill everyone in that church," he condemned.

Chinese government spokesman Liu Pengyu condemned Chou’s attack and urged people not to speculate on the shooter's motives and intentions before the investigations conclude.

"We express our condolences to the victims and sincere sympathy to the bereaved families and the injured people, to whom we wish an early recovery," Pengyu said.

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