Virginia man suspected of planning church mass shooting convicted of hate crime

A northern Virginia man who was arrested during a megachurch’s Sunday services on suspicion that he was about to embark on a mass shooting has been convicted of a hate crime, according to federal prosecutors.

A federal jury convicted Rui Jiang of Falls Church on Thursday of trying to obstruct congregants’ free exercise of religious beliefs, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The charge included that Jiang’s attempt involved a dangerous weapon and an attempt to kill, prosecutors said. He was also convicted of transmitting online threats and a firearms violation.