Suspect in deadly 2022 California church shooting indicted on 98 federal counts
The man charged in last year’s mass shooting at a church in California’s Orange County is now facing federal hate crime charges, as well as weapons and explosives offenses.
David Wenwei Chou, accused of opening fire at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on May 15, 2022, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana, California.
The federal charges — 98 counts in all — accuse Chou of killing 52-year-old Dr. John Cheng and allege he tried to kill 44 others using firearms and explosive devices that he carried inside the church.
The indictment alleges that Chou acted because of the victims’ national origin and religion, and he intentionally obstructed the victims’ religious exercise.