A man from Bailey’s Crossroads has been convicted of hate crimes for plotting a potential mass shooting at a church in Prince William County.
Following a four-day trial, a federal jury in Alexandria found Rui Jiang guilty yesterday (Thursday) of attempting to obstruct congregants of Park Valley Church in Haymarket from exercising their religious beliefs, using a firearm in connection to a violent crime, and sending online threats.
According to court documents, police in Anne Arundel County in Maryland began investigating Jiang after getting a tip on Sept. 24, 2023 reporting “concerning” posts on his Instagram account.
The posts, which began appearing the previous evening, included images of Park Valley Church, a burning Bible, and a handgun pointed at a church on a TV screen. Some contained threatening messages.
The Anne Arundel Police Department alerted the Fairfax County Police Department, which sent officers to Jiang’s apartment in Bailey’s Crossroads for a welfare check. When they found no one at home, they contacted the Prince William County Police Department “to report a possible threat of active violence at Park Valley Church,” an FBI special agent said in an affidavit.
A Prince William officer handling traffic at the church found Jiang’s vehicle in the parking lot around 10:17 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2023. The officer then met with the church’s security team, who had already detained Jiang after volunteers raised concerns about his behavior and asked him to leave.
Police arrested Jiang after searching him and finding that he was armed with a handgun and a knife. He had ammunition both on his person and in his car.
“During a search of Jiang’s apartment, police discovered five copies of a letter, each signed by Jiang in ink, which read in part, ‘To the families of those men about to be slain – I am sorry for what I have done and about to do (sic),'” the Justice Department said in a press release.
A grand jury indicted Jiang on federal hate crime charges on March 27, 2024, finding that he had “intentionally selected” victims based on their religious beliefs. A judge subsequently determined that Jiang was competent to stand trial.
Since prosecutors opted not to seek the death penalty, Jiang now faces a minimum of five years in prison with a potential life sentence on the table. He’s scheduled for a sentencing hearing on June 18.
Image via Google Maps
