Southern California prosecutors on Friday added hate crime charges against the Las Vegas man suspected to be behind a shooting that killed one person and injured five at a Taiwanese Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods, California, last month.
After reviewing additional evidence in the case, prosecutors this week filed an amended criminal complaint to include a hate crime charge against David Wenwei Chou (周文偉), Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.
Chou, a 68-year-old Taiwanese-American, allegedly carried out the shooting on May 15 — when the parishioners were at Geneva Presbyterian Church for a luncheon celebrating one of the church’s pastors — killing physician John Cheng (鄭達志) and wounding five other members.
Photo: AFP
Chou has already been charged with a long list of felonies, including one count of murder, five counts of premeditated attempted murder, four counts of possession of an explosive device, and felony enhancements of lying in wait and personal discharge of a firearm causing death, the prosecutors said.
On Friday, they added a special circumstance that Chou “intentionally killed his victim because of his race, color, religion, nationality or country of origin,” and five enhancements of a hate crime for each of the five counts of attempted murder, the Office of the Orange County District Attorney said in a news release.
If convicted on all charges, Chou faces a maximum sentence of death, the office said.
He is scheduled to be arraigned at the Central Justice Center on Aug. 19 and is being held without bail as a result of the special-circumstance murder charge, the office said.
Media reports said US authorities suspected the shooting was politically motivated after they found notes in Chou’s car indicating that he did not believe Taiwan should be an independent state separate from China.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RSS