On Sunday, a gunman opened fire inside a Southern California church, killing one person and gravely injuring four others. The incident happened at 1:26 PM (PDT) inside the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California, some 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles, in a town mostly comprised of pensioners with a strong Asian culture.
Dispatch received call of a shooting inside Geneva Presbyterian Church at 1:26pm. Four victims have been critically wounded , one with minor injuries. All victims are adults and are enroute to the hospital. One victim is deceased at the scene.
— OC Sheriff, CA (@OCSheriff) May 15, 2022
Congregants overcame the perpetrator, who was subsequently chained up, saving more fatalities, according to officials. According to Carrie Braun, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson, the majority of the victims were of Taiwanese origin, however, the police are still investigating whether they had been targeted.
Four of the patients, she added, were in serious condition, while another was being treated for minor injuries. Authorities discovered the deceased individual inside the church. Further information on the status of those hospitalised was not immediately available; the Sheriff’s Department identified them as four Asian males aged 66 to 92 and an 86-year-old Asian lady.
Following a morning service, the assailant, an Asian man in his 60s, opened fire inside the church in Laguna Woods, California, as people ate lunch. The investigation is still in its early stages, according to police sources, and no motive has been discovered. Authorities are questioning around 30 persons who were inside the church at the time of the incident.
This follows after an 18-year-old man named Payton Gendron opened fire at a busy supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on May 14 (local time), while live-streaming the incident on the streaming site Twitch. On a busy day, the attacker entered the supermarket Tops with a firearm.
Gendron is said to have driven for several hours from his house near Binghamton to the region where the majority of the black population lives. According to reports, the gunfire started in the parking lot. Witnesses said he opened fire outside before entering the shop. A former police officer guarded the store. He attempted to shoot the assailant but was killed in the attempt. As per CBS, the man hurled racist comments throughout the attack, according to police sources.
