Police Told Killer of 2 Was After His Ex-Wife

A man who fatally shot a pastor and deacon inside a Chinatown Baptist Church sanctuary on Sunday apparently was bent on also shooting his former wife and members of her family, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide investigator said Monday.

In addition, members of the assailant’s family confirmed statements by a church leader that the gunman suffered delusions of persecution, the investigator said.

Dang Bong Jow, a former member of the First Chinese Baptist Church who had not attended services for about five years, was shot to death in the sanctuary by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy who was attending morning services with other members of his Van Nuys church.

Besides his .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, the 46-year-old Jow carried two loaded magazines of ammunition and 41 loose bullets, investigators said.

Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Leverence fired after Jow shot Assistant Pastor Gregory R. Owyang, who was sitting with other church leaders behind the pulpit, and Senior Deacon Fook Kong Li, who had been introducing the day’s guests to the congregation.

Jow died inside the Yale Street sanctuary from gunshot wounds to the heart. Li was pronounced dead an hour later. Owyang was pronounced dead early Sunday evening.

Homicide investigator Jerome Beck said Monday that interviews with witnesses indicated that in going to church, Jow had a “very probable intent to look for his ex-wife and other family members.”

Jow’s former wife, whom investigators declined to identify, is a member of the church and was dropping off her children at the church’s nearby Sunday school when the shooting occurred. Her sister and her sister’s fiance, “whom Mr. Jow apparently felt a grudge toward,” were among the 350 people waiting to hear Owyang’s sermon, Beck said.

Beck said Jow missed seeing his former wife’s sister because the woman was able to hide from his view.

Beck said members of Jow’s family told investigators that Jow had exhibited symptoms of paranoia “for at least six years. . . . He was sure that everyone else was against him--his family, the church.” Jow had been under a doctor’s care but apparently was not taking prescribed medicine, Beck said.

Leverence, 28, who has worked for the Sheriff’s Department for 1 1/2 years, returned on Monday to his assignment as a jailer in the County-USC Medical Center jail ward.