By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and HAVEN DALEY (Associated Press)
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — An agricultural employee killed seven folks in back-to-back shootings at two mushroom farms that had employed him in Northern California and the bloodbath is believed to be a “workplace violence incident,” officers stated Tuesday because the state mourned its third mass killing in eight days.
Officers arrested 66-year-old Chunli Zhao on Monday after they discovered him in his automobile within the parking zone of a sheriff’s substation, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus stated.
Authorities consider Zhao acted alone when he entered a mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay, California, and opened fireplace, killing 4 and leaving one other severely wounded. He then drove to a different close by farm the place he had beforehand labored, and killed one other three folks, stated Eamonn Allen, a spokesman with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
No additional particulars about Zhao’s motivation or the names of the folks he allegedly killed had been launched as of Tuesday night. He was booked on suspicion of seven counts of homicide and one rely of tried homicide, jail information confirmed, and was being held with out bail.
At an earlier information convention, Allen declined to reply questions on whether or not Zhao had any earlier felony historical past, saying, “there were no specific indicators that would have led us to believe he was capable of something like this.”
“All of the evidence we have right now points to a workplace violence incident,” Allen stated. The lifeless have been 5 males and two ladies. The eighth sufferer, a person, remained within the hospital. Some have been Asian and others have been Hispanic, and a few have been migrant employees.
It wouldn’t have been Zhao’s first match of office rage, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. In 2013 Zhao was accused of threatening to separate a coworker’s head open with a knife and individually tried to suffocate the person with a pillow, the Chronicle reported, based mostly on court docket paperwork.
The two have been roommates and labored at a restaurant on the time, and the person, recognized as Jingjiu Wang, filed a brief restraining order in opposition to Zhao that was granted however is now not in impact. Wang couldn’t be instantly reached.
The sheriff’s workplace recognized the primary taking pictures location as Mountain Mushroom Farm. But California Terra Garden took over the enterprise final 12 months, firm spokesperson David Oates stated. He didn’t know the way lengthy Zhao labored there, including that he was considered one of 35 workers who had stayed on when possession modified. Oates declined to supply particulars of the 4 slain employees.
The website of the second taking pictures was close by Concord Farms. Owner Aaron Tung stated in a press release that the farm was ready for extra data earlier than it may remark. He thanked the neighborhood for its help.
Half Moon Bay is a small, laid-back, coastal and agricultural metropolis about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of San Francisco. Its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean make it a preferred spot for hikers and vacationers, who flock there to surf and for an annual large pumpkin competition.
Earlier this month the realm was hit by heavy rainstorms that brought on flooding and injury, briefly stopping farmworkers from incomes, Half Moon Bay Vice Mayor Joaquin Jimenez stated. Several farmworkers and their households lived in cell houses on the the mushroom farm the place the 4 died and had been relocated to motels and provided psychological well being and different help after the shootings. He stated the farm employs 20 to 30 Chinese and Latino employees, a few of them within the nation with out authorized permission.
“There’s a lot of fear. We have to understand, a lot of our farmworker community is also undocumented, so there’s also the fear of that, of their legal status. So for them to come forward to ask for help is going to be very difficult,” stated Jimenez, who can be the farmworker program director for the Latino advocacy group ALAS.
Thousands of farmworkers work within the broader San Mateo County, an space identified for rising principally flowers, peas, Brussels sprouts and fava beans. There are a number of small mushroom growers within the space, stated BJ Burns, president of the San Mateo County Farm Bureau.
California was nonetheless reeling from an assault in Monterey Park, simply outdoors Los Angeles, that killed 11 and solid a shadow over celebrations of Lunar New Year, an vital vacation for a lot of Asian American communities. Authorities are nonetheless looking for a motive for the Saturday taking pictures.
“For the second time in recent days, California communities are mourning the loss of loved ones in a senseless act of gun violence,” President Joe Biden stated Tuesday. “Even as we await further details on these shootings, we know the scourge of gun violence across America requires stronger action.”
The new 12 months has introduced six mass killings within the U.S. in fewer than three weeks, accounting for 39 deaths. Three have occurred in California since Jan. 16, in accordance with a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. The database tracks each mass killing — outlined as 4 lifeless, not together with the offender — within the U.S. since 2006.
About two hours after first receiving experiences of a taking pictures, a sheriff’s deputy noticed Zhao’s automobile parked outdoors a sheriff’s substation in a strip mall and arrested him.
“He did not actively surrender to us,” Allen stated, declining to reply a query on why Zhao had pushed there.
Video confirmed three officers approaching a parked automobile with drawn weapons. Zhao acquired out and the officers pulled him to the bottom, put him in handcuffs and led him away. A weapon was discovered within the car, officers stated. The video was captured by Kati McHugh, a Half Moon Bay resident who witnessed the arrest.
“We’re still trying to understand exactly what happened and why, but it’s just incredibly, incredibly tragic,” stated state Sen. Josh Becker, who represents the realm and referred to as it “a very close-knit” agricultural neighborhood.
It’s a majority-white neighborhood. About a 3rd of the inhabitants is Latino and about 5% Asian, in accordance with Census information.
At a day information convention, Gov. Gavin Newsom stated he met with Chinese farmworkers who heard the gunshots. Speaking via a translator, they stated it was laborious to understand what was taking place.
“They had never heard a sound like that,” he stated.
The taking pictures was prone to depart some in the neighborhood fearful and trying to find different work, he stated.
“The trauma and the damage, the devastation, is felt for generations in some cases, communities being torn asunder no one feeling safe,” Newsom stated.
The shootings in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park adopted the killing of a teenage mom, her child and 6 others at a house in California’s Central Valley on Jan. 16. Officials discussing the investigation talked about a potential gang hyperlink to the killings.
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Associated press writers Jocelyn Gecker and Janie Har in San Francisco and Sophie Austin in Sacramento, Calif., contributed.
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This story has been corrected to say that Zhao is 66, not 67, based mostly on new data from the sheriff’s division. It has additionally been corrected to say that six males and two ladies have been shot, not seven males and one lady, based mostly on new data from the sheriff’s division.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
