Original Canada Seven Days Media: Orange County in the south of California is bordered by Los Angeles in the north and the Pacific Ocean in the west, with beautiful scenery and mild climate, and many small cities in the region are suburban residential areas with emerging planning. In particular, the Irvine district planned and designed by the famous architect William Pereira is known as the "king of livable cities in the world" and "paradise for tourists and holidays", attracting many upper-middle-class families to settle here, and the wealthier Asian families account for 40% of the total population.
In the latest census data, Orange County is the third most populous county in California and the sixth most populous county in the United States. The small town of Laguna Woods in the Irvine District is a new retirement village or elderly centre, with more than 80 percent of residents aged 65 and older.
In the municipal plan, 80% are residential areas and 20% are commercial areas, surrounded by shopping malls, large general hospitals and various small clinics. The town government provides housing for people aged 55 and over, with more than 80 different room types to choose from, and buyers can choose comfortable housing according to their needs.
Outdoor four seasons like spring, rich vegetation, clean streets, the community also set up a choir, dance team, billiards, tennis and other more than 200 kinds of small clubs, hometown associations, so that all kinds of hobbies or people from the north of the south can find companions, attracting more and more retired people to live here.
The retirement town was originally planned for Jews, so the local Jewish households are the largest, but the population composition is increasingly diverse, and the wealthier Asians have accounted for 30% of the "retiree paradise" with a population of less than 20,000 people, of which Koreans, Japanese and Chinese from Taiwan are the most.
But this quiet, beautiful life was shattered on May 15 by a burst of gunfire.
Crime
In the town of Laguna Woods, there is a church called Geneva Presbyterian Church, which is used by the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in the Irvine District and other churches.
Churches in Taiwan generally start worshipping at 10 a.m., but on May 15, in order to welcome Pastor Zhang, who has returned to Taiwan after two years of service, more than 40 people stayed after the service to have lunch, most of them 7, 8, and 90 years old, which is also the first meeting of the church's members after the epidemic this year.
David Wenwei Chou, a 68-year-old Las Vegas resident, arrived at the church early in the morning and said that he had come to worship before, and although everyone at the scene could not recall that he had seen him, he was allowed to follow the parishioners to move, and after the service he stayed to attend the party, and he did not see anything unusual. But at the end of the dinner, Zhou Wenwei began to lock every exit of the room with chains, and if he could not lock it, he poured superglue into the keyhole, during which he also pushed away an inquiring parishionee and reprimanded "it is not your business", and then he took out two small pistols and shot indiscriminately at the people present, and many people fell down in response.
After the gunshots rang out, John Cheng, a 53-year-old doctor who accompanied his mother, moved quickly. From behind, he pounced on Zhou Wenwei, trying to prevent him from continuing to rob and grab the pistol, but unfortunately, the suspect turned around first and fired several shots at him, and Dr. Zheng fell to the ground with several bullets in his body and died on the spot. But his bravery bought time for the rest of the church.
When Zhou Wenwei fired all the bullets and changed the magazine, the church's Pastor Zhang Xuanxin (Billy Chang) resolutely grabbed a chair and smashed it at him, while three other parishioners around him rushed up, joined forces to subdue him, and tied him with wires until the police arrived at the scene.
Of the five injured, 4 were male and 1 female, aged 92, 82, 75, 66 and 86. Of these, 4 were seriously injured and 1 was less injured.
Police later found 3 bags in the room containing extra ammunition and four molotovs. Apparently, Zhou Wenwei was meticulously planned and carried out this shocking massacre against his compatriots.
hero
This premeditated massacre was averted by Dr. Cheng's courageous actions and the correct handling of other parishioners.
Orange County Deputy Sheriff Jeff Hallock gave it high praise, noting that although the church was full of elderly people, they showed "special heroism and bravery" to avoid greater bloodshed, and that if they had not acted quickly and properly, there might have been more casualties.
Known as the "hero", Dr. Cheng was born in Taiwan and traveled to the United States with his parents at the age of 1, and his father was also a doctor who practiced medicine in Texas for many years. Dr. Cheng grew up in Texas, attended Texas Tech School of Medicine, interned at UCLA after graduation, and eventually practised in Orange County.
He runs a sports medicine clinic in Aliso Viejo and is a co-founder of South Coast Medical Group. He is also a martial arts instructor who has taught people many times how to protect themselves in emergencies.
Dr. Cheng's family said Mr. Cheng's father had just passed away a month earlier, the first time he had taken his mother to church to meet an acquaintance after his father's death, and he was the youngest of all the people present. So he bravely rushed out, protecting his mother and others present with his own life.
Dr. Zheng was left with his widowed mother, wife and son and daughter. My son, 18, was admitted to the pre-medical department this year, and his daughter is still in high school.
murderer
Regarding the identity of the murderer Zhou Wenwei, the Orange County police initially introduced that he was a U.S. citizen and born in the mainland. But the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles pointed out that Zhou Wenwei was not born in the mainland, but in Taiwan in 1953.
It was mistaken by the U.S. police for being born in Chinese mainland because about 50 years ago, the place of birth on the passport of the People of Taiwan was "Repubilc of China" (i.e., the Republic of China).
At that time, Taiwanese immigrants who applied to the United States also wrote "China" (China) in official documents. Zhou Wenwei also wrote this most likely when applying for US documents, so the US side has this determination.
Todd Spitzer, the district attorney for Orange County, said Mr. Zhou's family had moved to Taiwan from Chinese mainland after 1948, and the Taiwanese media had dubbed Mr. Zhou "the second generation of the province."
"Provincials" refers to the 1.2 million soldiers and civilians who moved to Taiwan with the Kuomintang in 1949, accounting for about 13% of Taiwan's population at that time, and their children were called "the second generation of other provinces".
Because of the early experience of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the memories left over from the Kuomintang-Communist Civil War, many first-generation "provincials" had a high degree of identification with the Nationalist government and the Kuomintang, and adopted a hostile, even hateful stance toward Japan and the Chinese mainland.
Zhou Wenwei graduated from The Municipal Taichung No. 1 Senior High School and is the school's contact point in Nevada, USA.
At present, in Taichung, usa, the official website of the First Middle School Alumni Association has removed his personal information. He has taught for 18 years at the Department of Tourism, University of Science and Technology of China, the Department of Applied Sciences of Life at Fu Jen University, and the Department of Applied Sciences of Pingtung Institute of Technology.
He has also published several books, including International Bartending (1985), The Buyer's Invisible Agent (1986), Toefl American Listening Tips for Flight Attendant Tour Guides (1993), The Bartender's Bible (1994), And Soul Bartending (2001).
However, it is said that during his teaching period, he did not get along well with his colleagues due to different concepts, stubborn personality and other reasons, and often took leave of absence.
He was dismissed for absenteeism while teaching at the Zhonghua Technical School, the predecessor of the University of Science and Technology of China, but he was not convinced and threatened to carry a cross to the front of the Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Education, and the Legislative Yuan to demonstrate and protest.
In order to appease him, the then principal and chairman of the board of directors allowed him not to attend classes, pay his salary, and sent someone to contact his sister in the United States many times, which took more than half a year and paid him an additional salary for a year before the matter was brought to an end.
After Zhou Wenwei immigrated to the United States, in addition to working as a security guard in many companies, he also worked as a bartender and a delivery man. In 2009, he purchased several townhouse apartments for rent in Las Vegas. His rental apartment is on Cambridge Street, behind the convention center, overlooking Wynn Las Vegas.
He named the eight three-bedroom townhouses "Conscience Inn", and in addition to long-term rentals, there were also Short-term rentals for Chinese tenants who came to the exhibition.
In order to get more rooms to rent for his son in the dentist department to complete his studies, Zhou Wenwei moved out of his three-bedroom apartment and moved into the storage room where the original sundries were stored, but it brought him a safety hazard.
On April 3, 2012, a Spanish couple of male and female tenants pretended to ask him to collect his rent at night. But when he arrived, he attacked him, he was hit in the head with an iron object, stabbed his body with scissors, and finally woke up lying in the hospital with several stitches, his left elbow was broken, 8 steel nails were punched, his right ear lost his hearing, and the newly collected rent of more than 6,000 yuan in the storage room bag disappeared.
After Zhou Wenwei's accident, his wife, Ms. Li, who is in Florida, came to take care of him and moved him back to the apartment from the storage room where he lived before the accident. In an interview, he also said that he was very distressed that Zhou Wenwei was trying to gain the opportunity to increase his income in order to make his family worry-free.
This violent incident seriously affected Zhou Wenwei's life behind, and the sequelae of severe concussion not only made him difficult to take care of himself, but also became emotionally unstable, and he was more troubled by depression.
Zhou Wenwei's old neighbors in Taiwan recalled that because their family was "from other provinces" and their education was relatively high, no one could get along with them.
Zhou Wenwei's friends heard him tell that when he grew up in Taiwan, he was often bullied by Taiwanese locals: beaten by local classmates and scolded as a "Chinese pig".
Some people also broke the news on the Internet that Zhou Wenwei's original name was "Zhou Shengbian", but in the 80s and 90s of the last century, Chen Shui-bian was bullied because of his "name taboo" and had to change to his current name.
In March 2018, when Zhou Wenwei returned to Taiwan, he was looked at by neighbors for his strange behavior, when he posted a sign on the doorstep of his home, part of which read: "Zhou Wenwei wandered the United States as a cow and a horse as a slave, so miserable that he could not return to his hometown for a while to sort out the relics of his father and mother, please forgive the incompetence of the lowly slaves in the United States." He also signed the name "Zhou Wenwei The first generation of Taiwanese who grew up as refugees in the Xiang Army in Taiwan." ”
According to Zhou Wenwei's original tenant Balmore Orellana, Zhou Wenwei is a good landlord, but he and his wife have a bad relationship, and the two often quarrel loudly. The tenant said that Zhou Wenwei had never raised his rent in five years and asked if he needed to reduce his rent during the COVID-19 pandemic, but his life has changed a lot since December last year.
After his wife was found to have advanced lung cancer, the two finally decided to sell all the investment houses, his wife returned to Taiwan for medical treatment (there are reports that his wife has died), Zhou Wenwei continued to rent the original apartment, but the new homeowner suddenly raised the rent to 1400 yuan per month, Zhou Wenwei once complained to him that he could not afford to pay such a high house, he was old, physically disabled, and could not find a job to support himself.
The rejection of the government's application for subsidies made him even angrier and his mind seemed to be declining.
Zhou Wenwei has a legal security license to legally own a gun, and the two 9-centimeter pistols he used when he committed the crime were legally purchased in 2015 and 2017.
In retirement, he also worked as a temporary security guard at the local Sands and Venetian casinos to make ends meet.
One day in February, for unknown reasons, he robbed the apartment he lived in, and although he did not hurt anyone, he was eventually evicted from the house.
His neighbors said Mr. Zhou had asked several churches in Las Vegas if they could accommodate him, but they all refused, speculating that he had been living in his car for the past two months. In some occasions of gatherings in Las Vegas, Zhou Wenwei behaved as friendly to people and did not have any bad habits.
Others who knew him said that he was usually humble and courteous, speaking softly, but had severe depression and fantasy, extreme insecurity, and always thought that the people around him could not tolerate him. He also said that he wanted to eliminate Taiwan independence and do earth-shaking things.
Home country
In addition to his status as a "provincial person", Zhou Wenwei has another widely reported identity, he is a director of the China Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification (CCP) when the Las Vegas chapter was established in April 2019.
A photo of him at the inaugural meeting showed him holding a microphone and reading out a pro-Han-yu slogan, and the banner read: "Follow the trend and quickly destroy the du demon!" Younong Hanyu, soared to win the bid! At that time, Han Kuo-yu, who regarded himself as a "commoner" and supplemented by populist political language, was setting off a "Korean wave" that made the Kuomintang return to the light.
But Gu Yawen, the founding president of the Las Vegas branch of the Association for Promoting Reunification, said that Zhou Wenwei was uninvited when the Association was founded, because Zhou Wenwei was a professor at many universities and the author of the book "The Bartender's Bible", and the Association welcomed anyone who supported China's peaceful reunification, so he was given the opportunity to speak.
Later, I talked with Zhou Wenwei twice, felt that his thinking was too extreme, and began to keep a distance from him.
After the second half of 2019, Zhou Wenwei has not participated in any activities of the Association, including the WeChat group established by the Association, and has never invited him to join.
It is worth noting that the shooting site chosen by Zhou Wenwei was the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, whose roots can be traced back to 1865, the missionary work carried out by the British Presbyterian Church pastor James Laidlaw Maxwell in southern Taiwan, and the 1872 Missionary work of the Canadian Presbyterian Church pastor George Leslie MacKay in northern Taiwan. However, due to the clash of Eastern and Western cultures, the missionary work has not made much progress.
In March 1951, with the support of the Taiwan authorities, the two presbyterian churches of different origins in the north and south merged to form the "Taiwan Christian Presbyterian Church", which expanded rapidly and became more and more well-organized, and there are now 200,000 people on the island.
The Presbyterian Church also pays attention to the establishment of schools, hospitals and other charitable undertakings when preaching, and with an international background, it has considerable influence in both the political arena and the people. The Presbyterian doctrine emphasizes "nailing the foundation of the soil and identifying with all the inhabitants", coupled with the usual use of Hokkien for mission, which has a deep local color.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the democratic and self-determination movements of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan were naturally combined with extra-party movements with similar demands. Dpp leaders who advocated Taiwan independence, such as You Qing, Zhang Junxiong, Huang Tianfu, Weng Jinzhu, Zhang Junhong, and Hong Qichang, were all members of the Presbyterian Church in the early 1970s.
The Presbyterian Church also issued a shocking Declaration of Human Rights in 1977, explicitly calling on the government to "make Taiwan a new and independent country."
Perhaps it is precisely the feelings of home and country in the bones of "people from other provinces" who cannot support the wall in the face of the KUOMINTK's mud, but the DPP's Taiwan independence forces are like the sun in the sky, and the loss and resentment that arise from the DPP, coupled with personal misfortune, have finally created this tragedy of "being born from the same root, and frying each other too urgently."