Gunman Robs Worshipers in Garden Grove Temple
Police are looking for a man who stormed into a temple of a Vietnamese sect in an industrial area of Garden Grove Saturday night, fired a warning shot and then ordered temple-goers to the floor before fleeing with an armful of purses and wallets.
About 20 worshipers were inside the Mother Goddess of the Sam Mountains temple in the 10700 block of Capital Avenue when the masked man burst in about 10 p.m. and began shouting in Vietnamese to “get on the ground. This is a robbery!”
The man walked over to an area where purses had been stored, grabbed several of them, then fled with about $5,000 in cash, credit cards and some jewelry, police said. No one was injured.
Garden Grove Sgt. Bob Bowers said the robber probably knew someone who worshiped at the temple.
“It’s unusual in Garden Grove for a robbery to occur at a place of worship,” Bowers said.
On Sunday, the mood in the small gray building was calm. The robbery was not discussed by the trickle of visitors who flowed into the temple to pray at four small shrines resting on an Oriental rug. Incense and red candles burned at each of the shrines, laden with pyramids of oranges and mangoes.
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