Local officials filed numerous felony charges – including seven counts of murder and one attempted murder – against the man suspected of Monday’s mass shooting in Half Moon Bay that left seven people dead and another injured.
A video shows Chunli Zhao, 67, the suspect in the killing of Seven people, being taken into custody in Half Moon Bay on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. (Courtesy of Kati McHugh)
Chunli Zhao, 66, was arrested after two shootings in separate locations killed seven farm workers on Monday afternoon. In a news conference Tuesday, San Mateo County officials said the shootings were believed to be a case of “workplace violence.”
On Wednesday morning, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe filed a complaint charging Zhao with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, along with firearm use enhancements for each count and a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders.
Wednesday morning, the San Mateo County Office of the Coroner and released the identities of six of the seven people killed in the shootings:
Zhishen Liu, 73, San Francisco
Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, Moss Beach
Aixiang Zhang, 74, San Francisco
Qizhong Cheng, 66, Half Moon Bay
Yetao Bing, 43, Residence unknown
Jingzhi Lu, 65, Half Moon Bay
The coroner’s office did not release the name of the seventh victim, because it was still working to positively identify the victim and identify their next of kin.
However, prosecutors’ charging documents identified the seventh victim as Jose Romero Perez.
Zhao is expected to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Hall of Justice in Redwood City.
As Zhao awaited arraignment Tuesday, details about his living situation and alleged violent history were brought to the surface. He and his wife lived at a property formerly known as Mountain Mushroom Farms, the first shooting’s site, in a community of Asian and Latino migrant workers, officials say. Law enforcement officials described Zhao, who also worked at the mushroom farm located off highway 92, as a “disgruntled worker.”
Sheriff’s Capt. Eamonn Allen said Tuesday that the office is providing Zhao’s wife with resources and is thinking about her welfare.
“They lived on the property together, so there’s a very real concern of retribution or backlash on her,” Allen said.
The Bay Area News Group obtained court records from nearly a decade ago detailing alleged violent actions and threats demonstrated by Zhao against a former roommate and coworker. In a civil harassment restraining order filed in March 2013, the petitioner claimed Zhao attempted to suffocate them with a pillow, adding Zhao “said to me,’ Today I am going to kill you,’ ” according to the sworn court declaration.
The ex-roommate also claimed Zhao threatened to “use a kitchen knife to split my head.” A judge allowed a stay-away directive to expire in July 2013 despite the fact that Zhao failed to ever appear in court.
On Tuesday, officials revealed that the semi-automatic handgun believed to be used in the Half Moon Bay slayings was purchased legally.
David Oates, a spokesperson for California Terra Garden, which took over the Mountain Mushroom farm in March 2022, said there was “nothing” about Zhao that could have signaled the coming carnage to management. He added that Zhao lived on the property for at least seven years.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom decried federal lawmakers’ continued inaction on stronger gun laws Tuesday afternoon during a visit to the small coastal community.
“What the hell is wrong with us,” Newsom asked, “that we allow these weapons of war and large capacity clips out on our streets and sidewalks?”
In a news conference outside the I.D.E.S. Portuguese Hall in Half Moon Bay, where survivors of the shootings and family members of those slain have been given support, Newsom singled out new Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, criticizing his silence on the issue after three mass shootings occurred in California during the last week.
Eleven people died in the Los Angeles-area city of Monterey Park following a shooting Saturday. In Oakland, one person died and four others were injured in a gas station shooting that occurred only a few hours after the Half Moon Bay rampage.
“We haven’t heard one damn word from (McCarthy),” Newsom said. “Not one expression of prayers, condolences, nothing. And it should surprise no one.”
McCarthy ordered flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half staff in memory of the victims and offered his condolences to the people impacted by the shootings during a Tuesday media address, his staff told television station KGET in Bakersfield.