A man has been sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for attempting to commit a mass shooting at a Virginia church, as well as for transmitting threats over the internet.
Rui Jiang, a 36-year-old resident of Fairfax, was sentenced to 25 years in prison plus five years of supervised release for his plot to murder churchgoers at Park Valley Church of Haymarket.
“The freedom to worship without fear is one of the bedrock principles of our Nation,” said U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia in a U.S. Department of Justice press release shared with The Christian Post.
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“Rui Jiang set out to violate that principle by entering a church during a religious service armed with the intent to murder innocent parishioners. This unspeakable act, only thwarted by brave law enforcement officers and civilians, has no place in our Republic and will always be a priority of my office.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ Civil Rights Division said in a statement shared with CP that the “Justice Department will relentlessly investigate and prosecute attacks on our nation’s houses of worship.”
“This was the closest of calls,” Dhillon added. “But for the determination of a concerned citizen; the exceptional police work by the Anne Arundel, Fairfax, and Prince William County Police Departments; and the steadfast vigilance of the church security team, this would have ended in unimaginable tragedy.”
On Sept. 23, 2023, Jiang made multiple online threats of violence against Park Valley Church. A Maryland resident who saw the social media posts alerted authorities.
The following day, which was a Sunday, an off-duty police officer at the church discovered Jiang’s vehicle on the property. Church members then detained Jiang until authorities arrived.
When Jiang was arrested, he was found to be carrying a loaded, legally purchased handgun, an extra ammunition magazine and two knives.
In a statement released at the time, Fairfax County police said they and other police departments “acted swiftly” and, as a result, “were able to stop a potential active shooter.”
“Since the arrest, detectives from our Threat Assessment Management Unit have been assigned to assist with the investigation,” said local authorities. “TAM detectives assisted with the execution of a search warrant at Jiang’s home. Evidence supporting Jiang’s intent to cause harm was recovered from the scene.”
In December 2023, the Prince William County Police Department announced that the charges of attempted aggravated murder were added to earlier charges of carrying a dangerous weapon to a place of worship and threats of bodily harm.
“The additional charge against the accused […] stems from the ongoing investigation and analysis of digital evidence obtained during the search warrant executed at his residence in Falls Church,” Prince William authorities stated.
“Based upon the recent analysis of the digital evidence, physical evidence collected at the time, and the social media postings on accounts used by the accused depicting the church with threatening language, indications were that the accused intended to cause harm, injury, and death to the church congregation.”
Jiang was indicted last year, with investigators finding evidence of anti-religious sentiment in social media posts that Jiang had reportedly written before the attempted mass shooting.
In March, a jury found Jiang guilty of attempting to obstruct the congregants of a church in the free exercise of their beliefs, transmitting threats online and a firearms violation.
