Laguna Woods Shooting Hero Deserves A Medal, Say OC Congresswomen

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Congressional Gold Medal could be in store for a local doctor who died trying to stop a gunman at a mass shooting at a Laguna Woods church in May.

Reps. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, and Michelle Steel, R-Huntington Beach, jointly introduced legislation Wednesday in the United States House of Representatives to award the medal to Dr. John Cheng.

Porter said Cheng, a Laguna Niguel resident, was a hero and that "his legacy must live on."

"Dr. Cheng undoubtedly saved lives when he charged the gunman attacking his mother's church last month," she said. "Representative Steel and I are pushing to honor Dr. Cheng's sacrifice and bestow him with Congress' highest civilian award."

Steel said Cheng's actions at the Geneva Presbyterian Church on May 15 helped save dozens of lives. Awarding him the medal will make it so that "his courage will never be forgotten," she said.

Cheng accompanied his mother at a post-service luncheon held by the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church, which worships at Geneva Presbyterian when a gunman opened fire on churchgoers.

Cheng tackled the gunman and attempted to disarm him, but he was fatally shot in the scuffle, according to Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes.

Barnes said Cheng's "heroic actions" allowed other parishioners to grab the gunman, disarm him and detain him until police arrived.

The gunman wounded five people before being stopped.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office charged a 68-year-old Las Vegas resident with one count of capital murder, five counts of attempted murder and four counts of possession of an explosive device in connection with the shooting.

Prosecutors also filed hate crime allegations against the man, saying he specifically targeted Taiwanese people because of long-standing tensions between China and Taiwan.