Taiwanese church shooting suspect charged with hate crimes
LOS ANGELES — A 68-year-old man accused of killing one person and injuring five others at a Taiwanese Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods has been charged with hate crime enhancements, Orange County prosecutors announced Friday.
David Wenwei Chou of Las Vegas had previously been charged with murder, attempted murder and other felony counts in the May 15 shooting.
Prosecutors this week added a hate crimes enhancement to the murder charge, alleging that Chou's killing of Dr. John Cheng, 52, was motivated by race, color, religion, nationality or country of origin.
Prosecutors also added hate crime enhancements for each of the five counts of attempted murder against Chou.
Chou could face the death penalty if convicted of all charges, which also include four counts of possession of an explosive device, enhancements of lying in wait and personal discharge of a firearm causing death. He has not entered a plea, according to court records.
The hate crime enhancements were filed after prosecutors reviewed additional evidence, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. Authorities did not provide details about that evidence.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes last month characterized the shootings as a "politically motivated hate incident" and said authorities think Chou "specifically targeted the Taiwanese community."
Prosecutors allege that Chou entered Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, where the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church rents space, with two 9 mm handguns, several backpacks that contained extra magazines, and four Molotov cocktail-type devices.
Bernie Sanders blasts oil companies over gas prices
CHICAGO — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders praised Starbucks and Amazon workers trying to unionize and railed against oil companies over high gas prices in a brief appearance in Chicago late Thursday.
The marquee speaker at a “Fighting Back Against Corporate Greed Rally” hosted by Teamsters and flight attendants unions, Sanders noted that gas prices are higher in Illinois than in his home state, and also that oil, food, pharmaceutical and insurance companies have recorded soaring profits this year.
“During this pandemic, during the breakdown of supply chains, during this terrible war in Ukraine, what the corporate world has done is use all of that to substantially raise prices in America,” Sanders told the crowd, going on to say he wants to pass a “windfall profits tax on those crooks.”
“Tonight, right here, in this great city, we’re bringing people together to tell the ruling class of this country we are sick and tired of their greed and we’re not asking anymore, we are telling them enough is enough,” he said.
The former Democratic presidential contender is on a swing through the Midwest. He was scheduled to appear Friday at rallies in Wisconsin and Iowa for striking workers at CNH Industrial plants.
And then Saturday, Sanders returns to Chicago, where he’s due to appear at a rally for two congressional contenders in Illinois’ June 28 Democratic primary: Delia Ramirez for the 3rd Congressional District and Jonathan Jackson, son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, in the 1st District.
—Chicago Tribune
Former Trump aide Navarro pleads not guilty to contempt
WASHINGTON — Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro pleaded not guilty in the criminal contempt case against him for defying a subpoena by the congressional committee investigating the Capitol riot.
Navarro, who appeared Friday in federal court in Washington, entered the plea to both counts the U.S. Justice Department brought against him. One is for declining to appear for a deposition. The other is for refusing to hand over documents in response to a subpoena from the House committee probing the storming of the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 and the events leading up to it.
The case against Navarro comes amid the panel’s televised hearings into the insurrection.
At Friday’s court hearing, Navarro’s attorney, John Irving, asked U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to hold off on setting a trial date. He said Navarro had just retained legal counsel and also needed time to promote a forthcoming book.
“It is important to him for his livelihood,” Irving said, adding that the duties of promoting the book would “distract him” from helping his lawyers on the case.
The judge noted a trial coming up of members of the right-wing Oath Keepers and the need to schedule Navarro’s trial along with others, and tentatively set it for Nov. 17.
—Bloomberg News
Fate of American fighters missing in Ukraine unknown
President Joe Biden Friday said the U.S. does not know what has happened to at least two Americans who have gone missing while fighting in Ukraine.
The commander-in-chief repeated warnings against Americans volunteering to fight on the side of the Ukraine government, regardless of how strongly they support Kyiv’s cause.
“We don’t know where they are,” Biden told reporters as he headed home to Delaware for the weekend. “I want to reiterate, Americans should not be going to Ukraine now.”
Two U.S. veterans who were fighting in Ukraine, identified as Alabama residents Alex Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, have not been heard from since last week, their families say.
Relatives are worried about whether they may have been killed, wounded or captured in the raging conflict with Russian invaders.
The State Department said Thursday that there were reports of a third American citizen possibly missing while fighting in the country, but it did not release a name.
—New York Daily News
