At Least Seven Individuals Have been Killed In A Taking pictures In Half Moon Bay, California
Legislation enforcement personnel management the scene of a capturing on Jan. 23, in Half Moon Bay, California.
Jeff Chiu / AP
A shooter killed a minimum of seven folks at a mushroom farm and one other location in Half Moon Bay, California, on Monday, native officers stated.
The San Mateo County sheriff’s workplace recognized the shooter as Chunli Zhao, a 67-year-old man, and native media footage captured the second he was taken into custody within the car parking zone of a sheriff’s workplace station. (Different officers earlier on Monday had recognized him as Zhao Chunli.)
The victims — who haven’t but been publicly recognized — are believed to have been employees on the farm. In a press convention Tuesday, officers stated the shooter additionally labored on the farm, saying it was believed to be a case of “office violence.”
Christina Corpus, the San Mateo County sheriff, stated throughout a information convention that deputies had been dispatched at 2:22 p.m. Monday and located 4 folks lifeless from gunshot wounds in addition to one other individual with life-threatening accidents. Deputies then found three extra our bodies at a separate scene a few mile away. No less than one scene was described by native officers as a mushroom farm, and Corpus advised reporters they had been each nurseries.
The motive is unknown, Corpus stated, however police believed the shooter acted alone. As a result of the capturing occurred within the afternoon, when faculty was over for the day, there have been youngsters who witnessed the capturing. “For kids to witness that is unspeakable,” she stated.
David Oates, a spokesperson for California Terra Backyard, the corporate that owns the farm the place one of many shootings occurred, confirmed to BuzzFeed Information that 4 of the victims in addition to a fifth one who was injured and the suspect all labored on the farm.
“We stay shocked and grief-stricken over the mindless lack of 4 of our buddies and long-time staff,” Oates stated in a press release Tuesday, “and we pray for the crew member that continues to be in crucial situation.”
Corpus advised reporters at one other information convention on Tuesday afternoon that the surviving employee was being handled at Stanford Hospital and was in steady situation.
The shooter legally owned his gun, the sheriff advised CNN on Tuesday morning, noting that he was not beforehand identified to legislation enforcement. “He wasn’t a crimson flag for us, nothing to place him on our radar,” she stated.
However the shooter did have a historical past of violent threats towards coworkers, in keeping with courtroom information first obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2013, a person who labored with Zhao at a restaurant reportedly filed a restraining order towards him, alleging that Zhao had as soon as tried to smother him with a pillow and threatened he “would use a kitchen knife to separate my head.”
Oates advised BuzzFeed Information that California Terra Backyard, which acquired the farm in March 2022, was unaware of any disputes or points involving Zhao previous to Monday’s capturing. He stated Zhao did work on the farm, which primarily grows mushrooms, for a minimum of a number of years previous to the corporate taking on, however he didn’t have further particulars about his employment historical past.
“No earlier incident report or considerations raised,” Oates stated in an e mail.
The mass capturing was considered one of a number of in California in only a three-day span. On Saturday, 11 folks had been killed and 9 extra had been injured at a ballroom dance venue in Monterey Park, a predominantly Asian American suburb of Los Angeles. On Monday, simply hours after the tragedy in Half Moon Bay, one individual was killed and 7 extra had been injured in a capturing in Oakland.
“We’re sickened by immediately’s tragedy in Half Moon Bay,” David Pine, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, stated in a press release Monday. “Now we have not even had time to grieve for these misplaced within the horrible capturing in Monterey Park.”
Native and state officers pointed to California’s strict gun legal guidelines as they spoke concerning the tragedies, however that clearly extra must be achieved to cut back deaths brought on by gun violence.
“Gun security works,” Gov. Gavin Newsom stated throughout a information convention in Half Moon Bay Tuesday. “We is not going to again away from that resolve, however we won’t do that alone and with all due respect, we really feel like we’re.”
“[The] federal authorities must do its job,” he later added.
Josh Becker, a California state senator, tweeted, “When is sufficient going to be sufficient for this nation?????”
On Monday, Newsom tweeted that he was at a hospital assembly with victims of the Monterey Park capturing when he obtained phrase concerning the Half Moon Bay mass capturing.
“On the hospital assembly with victims of a mass capturing once I get pulled away to be briefed about one other capturing,” he stated. “This time in Half Moon Bay. Tragedy upon tragedy.”
Throughout his remarks on Tuesday, the governor took a second to name out Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who represents California’s Central Valley the place lots of the state’s farmworkers reside and work, and different Republicans who’ve fought again towards gun management measures.
“We have not heard one rattling phrase from him. Not since Monterey park … not one expression of prayers even,” Newsom stated. “It ought to shock no one.”
The American Public Health Association says gun violence within the US is a public well being disaster. It’s a main reason for untimely dying within the nation, responsible for more than 38,000 deaths yearly. As of Jan. 24, a minimum of 1,217 folks have already died from gun violence this 12 months, and one other 1,584 have died by suicide, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. In 2022, greater than 20,000 folks died from gun violence, with over 24,000 further gun deaths by suicide.