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Public ‘hogtied’ California church gunman with extension cord, police say
One person is dead, four others are “critically” wounded and another person has “minor” injuries after a gunman opened fire inside a church in southern California on Sunday afternoon.
Emergency dispatchers received a call of a shooting inside Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods at 1.26pm PT on 15 May, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office .
All victims are adults and have been admitted to area hospitals.
A suspect, described by police as an Asian man in his 60s, was detained at the scene and two handguns have been recovered.
The church in Laguna Woods – a city of roughly 16,000 people roughly 50 miles south of Los Angeles – held its weekly in-person worship services earlier on Sunday.
About 30 to 40 people, many of them Taiwanese, were inside the church during the shooting, police said.
A statement from the office of Governor Gavin Newsom said officials “no one should have to fear going to their place of worship. Our thoughts are with the victims, community, and all those impacted by this tragic event.”
The shooting comes one day after a gunman killed 10 people in a grocery store in an apparent racist attack in Buffalo, New York, among the deadliest mass shootings in 2022.
The Orange County sheriff’s office released a statement on Sunday stating it is “committed to fully investigating” the Laguna Woods shooting incident and will release more information tomorrow.
“This has been a sad day for the community. We will provide additional updates on the investigation tomorrow,” the office wrote on Twitter. “We are committed to fully investigating and sharing as much information as possible while maintaining the integrity of the investigation.”
This comes after the sheriff’s office tweeted that the suspect had been detained by the police and revealed the identity of all six victims of the shooting incident - all of whom were senior citizens.
Reacting to the mass shooting incident at the Laguna Woods church, the mayor of Buffalo, which witnessed its own fatal shooting on Saturday, wrote the incident is " absolutely sickening".
"Enough is enough! The news of the shooting at a church in Laguna Woods, CA is absolutely sickening. No community should have to go through the trauma of a mass shooting," Byron W Brown. "My thoughts and prayers continue to be with all of those impacted by gun violence in this country."
California congressman Adam Schiff, who represents the 28th Congressional district of California including areas like West Hollywood, Burbank and parts of Pasadena among others, has said it is "horrifying" to be grieving for another shooting incident "just hours after the attack in Buffalo".
"My heart breaks for the Laguna Woods community, and for every community marred by gun violence," Mr Schiff wrote on Twitter.
"I will never accept this bloodshed as normal," he wrote, adding: "We. Must. Act."
Images from outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church after a fatal shooting incident left one dead and 5 wounded.
Investigators gather outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California on Sunday
Hector Gomez, left, and Jordi Poblete, worship leaders at the Mariners Church Irvine, leave flowers outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods
An Orange County sheriff deputy removes yellow tape from a vehicle outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church
Orange County sheriff’s department crime lab investigators walk outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods
The Laguna Woods gunman who opened fire inside a church injuring five people and killing one was hit by the pastor with a chair, an eyewitness has said.
Jerry Chen, 72, told the LA Times that the churchgoers at the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church had just finished lunch and were taking photos with pastor Billy Chang, who had returned from two years in Taiwan when gunfire erupted.
Mr Chen told the newspaper he saw the pastor hit the gunman with a chair when the shooter paused to reload his weapon, after which the shooter was hogtied by other members.
A gunman who opened fire in a Southern California church on Sunday was “hogtied” with an extension cord by parishioners after he killed one person and injured five more, according to police.
He was still tied up when police arrived.
“Had people not intervened , it could’ve been much worse,” Orange County undersheriff Jeff Hallock said at a press conference on Sunday. “There were 30 to 40 people in the church.”
Four of those injured are in critical condition at area hospitals.
Suspect is in custody and two guns recovered, police said
There have been 200 mass shootings in the US since the start of 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The latest massacres in Buffalo, New York, and Southern California, are part of an epidemic of gun violence in the US that has killed nearly 16,000 people this year.
Charlotte Hsieh, a church organist, happened to leave the Geneva Presbyterian Church about an hour-and-a-half before a gunman entered and shot six people.
“I could not even imagine something like this could happen here,” she told The New York Times. “I’m just as shocked as anybody.”
Police say they’ve arrested an Asian man in his 60s, after a shooting left one dead and five injured at a church in Laguna Woods, California.
So far, however, they don’t know the individual’s motive for allegedly carrying out the shooting, or if he had any ties to the Geneva Presbyterian Church.
A law enforcement source told The Los Angeles Times the man is 68 and from Las Vegas.
Federal agents from the FBI and ATF have joined Orange County police as they investigate a shooting a church in Southern California that left one dead and five injured.
The ATF said on Sunday it has put an “emergency” trace on the two handguns recovered at the scene, which were commercially made and bore serial numbers.
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