“About as bad as it gets”
Killer gets life for deadly shooting spree at Catholic retreat camp in San Bernardino diocese
An aging man who shot and killed one person and attempted to murder three others at a Catholic retreat center in Riverside County has been sentenced to life in prison. 
On Friday, March 18, Riverside Superior Court Judge Mark Mandio sentenced 71-year-old John Suchan Chong to 136 years to life in prison in connection with an April 7, 2009 shooting rampage at the Kkottongnae Retreat Camp near Temecula in a rural area of Riverside County. Chong, who had been living on the grounds of the retreat center since 2002, was convicted in February for fatally wounding Chuneui Yun and shooting her husband, Jongpil Yun, who had invited him to their home for dinner. Chong then went to the home of two neighbors of the Yuns and fired three more shots from a .32-caliber pistol before being subdued. Chong’s apparent motive was his belief that others at the retreat center were not showing him or the nuns who lived on the grounds sufficient respect. "They acted as if they were the leaders of the community, and expected the community to adhere to their rules," Chong told a probation officer, according to court records. “While there is no chance Chong will live long enough to serve his full sentence, it sends an important message,” said Judge Mandio in sentencing Chong, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise. "This is about as bad as it gets," said the judge, according to the Press-Enterprise. “But for some intervening facts, there would be four people dead." The sentence handed down by the judge was the maximum allowed by California law. At the time of the shootings in 2009, San Bernardino Bishop Gerald Barnes issued the following brief statement: “I am deeply saddened by the shootings that took place Tuesday evening at the Kkottongnae Retreat Camp. I ask all to join me in prayer for the victims of this tragic act and for the Sisters who run the retreat camp. In these troubling times when we are seeing so many acts of senseless violence, we must hold God's peace and grace in our hearts and ask for His strength to bear these tragedies.”
“The camp offers assistance to homeless and abandoned people and children in the hope that they will realize the love of God and find peace as the children of God,” says a profile of the retreat center by the Temecula Patch. The retreat center in Temecula is run by the Congregation of Kkottongnae Sisters of Jesus, a religious order from Korea that serves the poor, the elderly and the homeless.
