Seven dead in Half Moon Bay shooting

HALF MOON BAY — A 67-year-old “disgruntled worker” shot dead four people on Monday afternoon at a coastal farm near the center of Half Moon Bay and killed three more at another farm, officials say. said, marking the second mass shooting in California. Focused on Asian Americans for the last 3 days.

Half Moon Bay’s Chunli Zhao was arrested about two and a half hours after Monday’s shooting. The shooting rocked the quiet Surfside community, widely known for the Mavericks Wave Break and the annual Pumpkin Festival, which draws thousands of people to the intersection of Route 92 and Route 1. .

“My deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the coastal community and the City of Half Moon Bay. This type of shooting was horrifying and today it came home,” said San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus. said at a news conference Monday night.

About 2:20 pm on Monday, a sheriff’s deputy was summoned to Mountain Mushroom Farm to report the shooting, which resulted in multiple casualties, on Highway 92, less than a mile from the highway intersection. It was right next to the line.

Lawmakers found four people, both men and women, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. A fifth shooting victim, still alive when found, was taken to Stanford Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

A short time later, the sheriff discovered a second shooting scene. This time, he was found shot dead by three more people near a series of farming operations about three miles (3 miles) south of Route 1.

The second shooting occurred at Concord Farm at 2125 Cabrillo Highway South, according to Kathy Rice, one of the owners of the adjacent US Trucking Soil Farm.

“Shocking, absolutely shocking. Totally unexpected,” Rice said.

All three people who died at Concord Farms were employees of the business, said the business owner, who requested anonymity. Among the dead was a manager he had worked for 27 years on a small mushroom farm.

The owner also said he did not recognize the suspect’s name.

The employees who were killed were “hard working people. They are very good,” the owner said, adding, “They were like family to us.”

The owner said, “This should not happen anywhere.

There was no immediate sighting of the shooter, but a sheriff’s deputy spotted Zhao in his car in the Half Moon Bay Sheriff’s Substation parking lot and ordered him out of the car at 4:40 p.m. In the arrest captured on video, several deputies pulled out their guns and Zhao could be seen walking towards them with his hands up. Deputies quickly took him to the ground and subdued him. Zhao acted alone, according to the sheriff’s office.

Katie McHugh, who describes herself as part of the local farming community, was at a substation for a press conference about the shooting when the suspect arrived.

“I was surprised to see[the suspect]here and of course I hoped he came to turn himself in,” McHugh said. “It was shocking and I was very impressed with the way the officers handled the takedown. It never added any energy to the situation.”

“He was quiet,” McHugh said of the suspect. “He didn’t react much when he was knocked down. Everything happened pretty calmly.”

The devastation hitherto attributed to Zhao soon became apparent. According to local elected officials and media reports, Zhao was an employee at a mountain mushroom farm and some of the dead were his colleagues. San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine told The Associated Press that Zhao was a “disgruntled colleague.”

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that a weapon had been found in Zhao’s car and that “there is no further threat to the community.” Corpus, the newly appointed sheriff, called the shooting “a (devastating) tragedy for this community and the many families touched by this unspeakable act of violence.”

Those displaced or separated from their families as a result of the shootings were being treated at the Family Reunification Center at IDES Hall, 735 Main Street, Half Moon Bay.

According to eyewitness accounts, grief and grief filled the venue as members of a close-knit community searched for answers and updates on the situation of their loved ones.

“There’s a lot of grief,” said Lisette Diaz, a resident of Half Moon Bay and a volunteer with ALAS, a nonprofit that helps those affected by the disaster. “I can hear people crying.”

Teenagers were often by the side of their grieving parents as vehicles drove in and out of the scene, witnessing the shooting losses.

“It’s obvious. It’s devastating (inside),” said ALAS volunteer Kate Shay. plug.”

Two volunteers said the two shots, combined with the devastating effects of recent storms, impacted a coastal area of ​​about 11,000 people.

“I never thought something like this could happen in a small, close-knit community. We are all so close,” Diaz said. “We all know each other, we know our neighbors, we all know people who work within our community. It was heartbreaking.

According to Alejandro Lopez, one of the victims was a longtime friend and colleague.

“He was like my brother,” he told a Bay Area News Group reporter in Spanish.

Lopez said he learned about the shooting from his wife when he got home and tried to call friends, but they didn’t answer. Another colleague told him that a friend of his had died.

“(I feel) bad, very bad,” Lopez said.

At a news conference Monday night, elected officials, including San Mateo County Oversight Board Chairman David Pine and Deputy Mayor Joaquín Jiménez, offered their condolences to those affected by the shootings and expressed their condolences for gun violence. asked for an end.

“We grieve tonight for our lost neighbors in our community,” Pyne said. Our hearts are broken.But at the end of the day, there are too many guns in this country and change is needed.This is not how modern society does its business.”

“This is what we see in the news and I didn’t expect it to come home,” Jimenez said. It should be a sight to behold.”

The shooting occurred in Monterey Park (Los Angeles area) one Saturday. 11 deadare all Asian-American.

“First Monterey Park, now Half Moon Bay. Come on. How many more people have to die?” “The details are sparse, but one thing is true. The victim died of a gunshot wound. My heart aches for the family.”

Canepa said the county has pledged $2 million over the next two years to start a gun violence prevention program. The program aims to improve public safety by “boosting efforts to remove guns from the hands of felons, stalkers, and others prohibited from possessing firearms,” ​​he said. added.

Congresswoman Anna Esu said she was also monitoring the situation in Half Moon Bay.

“We thank the San Mateo Sheriff’s Department for detaining the suspect and working on two scenes of the murder,” Esu said in a statement. “Half Moon Bay is a beloved and close-knit community. In these dark times, we are all standing by them and the victims’ families.”

the bay area shooting incident In recent years, disgruntled mechanics in May 2021 Killed 9 people in the Valley Transit Light Rail Yard, then killed himself Near the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office in San Jose.

Staff writers Austin Turner, Jakob Rodgers, and Elissa Miolene contributed to this report.