The man accused of opening fire on a Southern California church congregation because of his political hatred of Taiwan dubbed himself a “destroying” angel in a seven-volume diary sent to a newspaper before the attack, the paper said Wednesday.
David Chou, 68, spent $16.10 to mail seven thick photocopied volumes of handwritten Chinese text and a flash drive to the World Journal office in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park, according to photos published in the Chinese-language paper.
The newspaper said the pages bore the title: “Diary of an Angel Destroying Independence” in an apparent reference to Taiwan’s self-government. The Chinese Communist Party continues to demand Taiwan reunify with China.
The diary pages were received in the daily mail Monday, one day after authorities say Chou opened fire at a lunch gathering of older parishioners at Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in the community of Laguna Woods.
The newspaper didn’t report the contents of the diaries and nobody there apparently read through them before sending them to the police through the paper’s attorney, said an employee who declined to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak openly.
The newspaper’s lawyer, however, told The Orange County Register late Wednesday that the papers were given to him late Tuesday and he still had them.
Attorney Maxwell Lin of West Covina said that he will share the papers with law enforcement when he receives a subpoena.
“We have no intention of withholding anything,” Lin told the Register.
Lin could not confirm the reported title.
“The document will speak for itself, but how you call it is subject to a reporter’s interpretation,” said Lin, who had not fully read the papers.
“Time will tell how important” the papers are, Lin told the Register.
Investigators were aware of the reports that the journals were sent to the newspaper, according to Orange County sheriff’s spokesperson Carrie Braun.
One person was killed in the shooting and five were wounded. Chou could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of murder and attempted murder. He has not yet entered a plea and remained jailed without bail in Orange County pending a June 10 arraignment.
County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has said Chou was motivated by hatred for Taiwan, where he was born after his family was forced from mainland China when Communists prevailed in a civil war that ended in 1949. He apparently chose the church at random and didn’t know anyone there before he drove to California from Las Vegas on Saturday, authorities said.
Authorities have said Chou sat through a church service before attending the luncheon in honor of a former pastor, where he mingled with the parishioners for about 40 minutes before chaining and nailing shut exit doors and opening fire.
When the gunfire erupted, Dr. John Cheng, 52, charged Chou and was shot but authorities said he disrupted the attack and may have saved dozens of lives.
The former pastor, Billy Chang, then picked up a chair and threw it at Chou, who fell on the floor. Chang said he rushed at Chou and several congregation members held Chou down and tied him up.
Chou was armed with two legally purchased 9 mm handguns and concealed bags holding ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-style devices in the church hall where the luncheon was being held, authorities said.
The wounded ranged in age from 66 to 92 and were expected to survive.
The shooting shook Southern California’s Taiwanese community.
“I am starting to worry about our people,” Dr. Simon Lin, a leader at the Taiwan Center Foundation of Los Angeles, said at a news conference. “The Taiwan Center is very friendly. It’s open to the public. We never check your background.”
The small community center lacks the budget to hire full-time security, he added.
Louis M. Huang, director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, said he has confidence in U.S. law enforcement to carry out the investigation and that justice would be served.
He called on Taiwanese Americans to respect differences in opinion but said no one has a right to infringe on other people’s rights or to take someone’s life.
He urged community members to report to the police if they see something that concerns them.
“Don’t keep silent,” he said.