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The man responsible for the shooting in a Taiwanese church in California Sunday has been charged with first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder.
David Chou, 68, drove to Orange County on Saturday and attended Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church the following morning. According to authorities, Chou spent about an hour mingling with about 40 church members and then carried out his plot.
Chou chained the doors to the church shut and put super glue in the keyholes to keep people in. He was armed with two 9mm handguns and four Molotov cocktail-type incendiary devices, according to authorities.
Chou is a U.S. citizen who grew up in Taiwan. Authorities say the shooting spree was motivated by a hatred of Taiwanese people. A federal hate crimes investigation is ongoing.
“While there’s very strong evidence right now that this was motivated by hate, we want to make sure we have put together all the evidence that confirms that theory in the case,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
Multiple Shootings Over the Weekend
The shooting at the Taiwanese church took place on the same day of the mass shooting in Buffalo, NY that left 10 Black shoppers killed and three others wounded.
An 18-year-old white supremacist, barely old enough to vote, got into a vehicle and drove over 200 miles to a predominately Black community in Buffalo, New York, to commit an act of domestic racial terrorism.
Payton Gendron streamed live on Twitch’s social media platform so the White mob could virtually live out their long-lusted fantasy of unprovoked vigilantism against Black bodies.
Gendron has been charged with first-degree murder, and more charges are expected as the US Department of Justice is investigating the shooting “as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism.”
The two shootings are an alarming reminder to many that the discussion around hate and race in this country need to be taken more seriously.
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