{"id":2209385,"date":"2024-03-29T18:13:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T22:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-arrested-with-handgun-outside-of-church-charged-with-attempted-church-shooting\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T18:13:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T22:13:40","slug":"man-arrested-with-handgun-outside-of-church-charged-with-attempted-church-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-arrested-with-handgun-outside-of-church-charged-with-attempted-church-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Man apprehended with firearm near church faces charges for attempted church shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fman-arrested-with-handgun-outside-of-church-charged-with-attempted-church-shooting%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2209385&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A 35-year-old \u200dman named Rui Jiang was\u2062 charged\u2063 with attempting \u2063to shoot up a Virginia church. He\u200c posted threatening\u2062 messages online,\u2064 then appeared at the\u2063 church armed with a\u2063 handgun and loaded magazines.\u2063 Jiang faces charges for attempted\u2063 obstruction \u200bof\u200d religious beliefs and \u200dmaking threats. Authorities \u200dfound a letter in \u200chis apartment detailing his motives \u2062tied to romantic\u200b frustrations. A 35-year-old individual named Rui Jiang stands accused of plotting to \u200ccommit a violent act at\u2064 a Virginia\u200d church. Following his online\u2062 threats, he arrived at \u200dthe church armed with a handgun and ammunition. Jiang now confronts charges related to\u2062 impeding religious freedom\u2062 and issuing threats. \u200dLaw enforcement \u200duncovered \u200ca\u2064 letter in his residence elucidating his motivations linked\u200c to romantic disappointments.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 35-year-old man has been charged with attempting to shoot up a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/virginia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Virginia<\/a> church after he allegedly posted threatening messages about the church online and showed up to the church on Sunday with a semi-automatic handgun and two loaded magazines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rui Jiang was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/virginia-man-charged-attempted-church-shooting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">charged<\/a> by the Department of Justice on Thursday with attempted obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs, use and carry of a firearm during a crime of violence, and making threats. Jiang was arrested on September 24, 2023, outside of the Park Valley Church in Haymarket, Virginia, allegedly carrying a handgun and two loaded magazines after a member of the church had alerted authorities about concerning social media posts threatening violence he had reportedly made.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police searched Jiang\u2019s apartment and say they found five copies of a letter indicating that men in the church would be targeted in the shooting. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cTo the families of those men about to be slain \u2013 I am sorry for what I have done and about to do. May your tears not be cried in vain, but to celebrate how your loved ones had lived,\u201d the letter said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letter indicated that Jiang was angry about not being able to get into a romantic relationship. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edva\/pr\/falls-church-man-charged-online-posts-threatening-haymarket-church\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was<\/a> previously charged in February over the alleged threats.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">An <a href=\"https:\/\/i.ntd.com\/assets\/uploads\/2024\/03\/id982809-Jiang-previous-indictment.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">affidavit<\/a> in support of his arrest from an FBI agent who investigated the case included several of the social media posts that raised concerns and illustrated anger toward God and the church. The FBI spoke with police who had been alerted about the troubling social media posts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe officer observed multiple pictures posted to the account, including one burning a Bible in a frying pan on top of a stove, one with a Bible placed on the bathroom floor, and threatening messages against a church and the government,\u201d the FBI agent wrote in her affidavit. \u201cThere were also pictures of a silhouette target with bullet holes in it with the hashtag \u2018Fk God,\u2019 as well as pictures from inside a white vehicle parked in a church parking lot at night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One post read: \u201cWelcome to Park Valley church, attended by many top secret gov clearance holders in the area. From this day forward, you will know that this is how you will repaid me. Blood will be on your hands.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The post with the picture of the Bible on the bathroom floor tagged Park Valley Church and was captioned, \u201cPut the Bible on the floor next to the bathroom. Now everytime I take a piss, I have to step on it. #fk God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1700760801843000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>According to the affidavit, Jiang denied that he had showed up to the church on Sunday to carry out an attack during an interview with police.<\/p>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 31\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>\u201cJIANG denied going to Park Valley Church to harm anyone or himself,\u201d the affidavit said. \u201cHe admitted that he could see how someone could view his Instagram posts and emails coupled with him showing up to the church armed with a gun as \u2018scary,\u2019 but believed it to be a misunderstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jiang could face life in prison if convicted. The FBI and the Prince William County, Virginia, and Fairfax County, Virginia, Police Departments were all involved in investigating the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 35-year-old man, Rui Jiang, faces charges for attempting to shoot a Virginia church. He allegedly posted threats online, then arrived on Sunday armed with a semi-automatic handgun and loaded magazines. The Department of Justice filed charges on Thursday for attempted obstruction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2209386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1399972008.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1399972008.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2209386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}