Shooting Outburst Terrorizes Church in L.A. Chinatown : Gunman Kills Deacon, Asst. Pastor Before Deputy Shoots Him to Death

A former member of a Chinatown church, armed with a handgun and dozens of rounds of ammunition, returned Sunday to kill the church’s senior deacon and an assistant pastor minutes before the morning’s sermon was to begin.

Then, as about 350 members of the First Chinese Baptist Church hugged the sanctuary floor in terror, the assailant was shot to death in a gunfight with an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who was attending the 8 a.m. services with several other members of his San Fernando Valley church.

Witnesses said Dang Bong Jow described by church officials as an emotionally disturbed Chinatown resident who stopped attending their services about five years ago--walked up an aisle toward Assistant Pastor Gregory R. Owyang, who was sitting with other church leaders behind the pulpit, preparing to give his sermon, entitled “We Have the Mind of Christ.”

Point-Blank Range

Dang, 46, shot Owyang once in the head at point-blank range, witnesses said. He then began firing at Deacon Li Fook Kong, who had been introducing the day’s guests to the congregation and was trying unsuccessfully to move out of range.

Li, 58, of Pasadena, a member of the church for three decades, was hit in the head and chest. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later after unsuccessful efforts to resuscitate him.

Owyang, 36, of Montebello, a member of the church for 15 years, was hospitalized in critical condition at County-USC Medical Center from the bullet that passed through his head. He was pronounced dead at 6 p.m.

Dang was killed by Deputy Donald Leverence, who stood up and fired after Dang shot Owyang and Li, witnesses said.

Leverence, a 28-year-old deputy assigned to duty in a jail ward, was visiting the Chinatown church at 984 N. Yale St. with other members of The Church on The Way, a Van Nuys congregation.

Accounts of the shooting were imprecise Sunday. While there was little doubt that Dang deliberately sought out Owyang, witnesses differed on whether the heavily armed assailant would have shot more people had he not been confronted by Leverence, or whether he was attempting to flee when shot. A sheriff’s spokesman said Dang was carrying approximately 60 rounds in gun clips and loose ammunition in addition to his .45-caliber handgun.

Kenneth Chan, an usher, said Dang had been seated in the first five or six rows of the congregation before walking toward the pulpit.

“I thought he was just coming up to give the pastor a message,” Chan said.

Another assistant pastor, Herman Tang, said Dang had given no indication that he was disgruntled with the church at the time he stopped attending services. However, Tang said, Dang “has been (emotionally) sick” in recent years, had lost his job and been divorced after leaving the church.

Tang and other church officials declined to elaborate on their assessment, and sheriff’s investigators said a motive for the attack is still being investigated.

Remained Members

Tang said Dang’s former wife and their children have remained members of the church’s congregation, and that the mother was dropping off the children at the church’s Sunday School when the shooting occurred.

Tang said he doubted that many members of the congregation recognized Dang on Sunday because of his long absence. Tang said he was not in the sanctuary when the shooting occurred, but that if he had seen Dang walking into Sunday’s service, “I probably would have stopped and talked to him, knowing about the problems he had. But if he’d said, ‘Can I go in and worship?’ I probably would have let him go in.”

Witnesses said that Deputy Leverence’s first shot at Dang, fired across the sanctuary as the rest of the worshipers cowered, missed the suspect. Dang, moving toward the rear of the sanctuary, fired back but hit no one. Leverence was then able to get a clearer view of Dang and fatally wounded him, they said.

Dang died at the scene.

While police and sheriff’s investigators questioned witnesses, the morning’s services were moved to the church’s educational center on Yale. It was there, about two hours after the shooting, that several hundred worshipers collapsed in gasps and sobs when Tang informed them of Li’s death.

“It saddens my heart to announce to you that Fook Kong has gone home to be with the Lord,” intoned Tang, whose words were translated into Chinese by another deacon.

For more than a minute, the only sounds were soft murmurs of anguish, and they continued to dominate the room even when Tang resumed, urging the congregation to “take courage from the word of God. . . . Do not be alarmed by your opponents. . . . We are not only being opposed by a man. We are being opposed by Satan. Let us remember we have the warfare to fight.”

Hands Folded in Prayer

Explaining to the gathering that Owyang’s chances of survival were “very slim,” Tang asked them to break into small groups and pray for the pastor. Still sobbing, the members knelt on the carpeted floor, some of them folding their hands in prayer, others gently hugging the person next to them with one arm.

If Li were with them, Tang said, “he would say, ‘Be faithful to the Lord. Love Jesus. Fight the battle. Don’t worry about me. It is well with my soul.’ ” The last sentence was the title of a song that Tang said was Li’s favorite. He had once said that he would like to have it played at his funeral, Tang said.

In an interview, Tang said that Li’s wife, Irene, the mother of three children, told him that she believes that her husband “would be happy that he died on the pulpit serving the Lord.”

He said Li’s wife told him that she wanted to let Dang’s ex-wife know that “she holds no bitterness against her” for the shooting.