A man who the authorities said had planned a mass shooting at a Virginia church was sentenced to 25 years in prison this week, federal prosecutors said.
The man, Rui Jiang, 36, was convicted at his trial in March of making threats online, bringing firearms to a religious service and obstructing congregants’ free exercise of religious beliefs.
In a news release after the sentencing on Wednesday, Erik S. Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said that Mr. Jiang entered “a church during a religious service armed with the intent to murder innocent parishioners.”
“The freedom to worship without fear is one of the bedrock principles of our nation,” he said.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Jiang was carrying a semiautomatic handgun, two magazines of ammunition and two knives when he went to the Park Valley Church in Haymarket, Va., on Sept. 24, 2023. He was also found to have more ammunition and a canister of bear spray in his car, they said.
There were about 1,000 people in the church when Mr. Jiang went there, according to Barry White, a senior pastor with the church.
The authorities, who said they found Mr. Jiang inside the entrance to the church, were led there by a tip they received about his troubling social media posts.
Mr. Jiang had posted on Instagram threatening messages that included a photograph of a burning Bible and a picture from the inside of a vehicle parked in what appeared to be the church’s parking lot at night, according to court records.
One of the messages he posted said, “Welcome to Park Valley church” and “Blood will be on your hands,” according to court records.
Todd Richman and Nate Wenstrup, lawyers for Mr. Jiang, said in a statement on Friday that their client suffered from mental illness and that this incident happened when he was “delusional and undergoing a severe mental health crisis.”
“Unfortunately, this is yet another case where the government has used the criminal legal system to respond to a mental health crisis,” they said.
Mr. Richman and Mr. Wenstrup said they commended church security and the police officers for “ably diffusing the situation and treating Mr. Jiang with compassion.” Since the incident, their client has been receiving treatment and taking medication, they added.
The Park Valley Church did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Aimee Ortiz covers breaking news and other topics.
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