On Sunday, a gunman opened fire at a lunch reception at a Southern California church, killing one person and wounded five others before being apprehended and hog-tied by parishioners in what a sheriff’s official described as an act of extraordinary bravery and valor.
The incident at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods left four of the five persons wounded with significant gunshot wounds, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department authorities.
Undersheriff Jeff Hallock said the shooting suspect, an Asian man in his 60s, was in custody and that officers seized two pistols at the scene. The motivation for the shooting is unknown, but authorities assume the gunman does not live in the area, he added.
According to Carrie Braun, a sheriff’s spokesman, the majority of persons inside the church at the time were of Taiwanese heritage.
When shooting began soon before 1:30 p.m., about 30 and 40 members of the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Worship were meeting for lunch following a morning church session at Geneva, officials said. Parishioners had the shooter hog-tied and in custody when deputies arrived.
The injured were four Asian males aged 66, 75, 82, and 92, as well as an 86-year-old Asian woman, according to the sheriff’s department. Only four of the five surviving victims had been shot, according to authorities.
The identity of the individual slain was not immediately revealed.
According to Hallock, the probe was still in its early stages. He stated the assailant attended the church service, if he was known to church members, and how many rounds were fired are among the many unanswered issues.
According to a statement from the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, a church administrative body, the afternoon meal celebration was commemorating a previous pastor of the Taiwanese congregation.
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were dispatched. Agents from the FBI were also dispatched to the area to help the sheriff.
