Half MOON BAY — A farmworker accused of killing 7 men and women in a mass shooting at two Fifty percent Moon Bay mushroom farms was billed Wednesday with 7 counts of murder and a single of tried murder.
Chunli Zhao, 66, manufactured his 1st courtroom appearance Wednesday, but did not enter a plea. His two lawyers appointed by way of private defender program in San Mateo County did not right away reply to phone calls and emails looking for remark.
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Zhao’s following overall look has been scheduled for Feb. 16, when he is predicted to enter a formal plea.
San Mateo County District Lawyer Steve Wagstaffe, speaking outside the courthouse, declined to share any more specifics on Zhao’s motive in the killing of his present-day and previous coworkers, indicating he wished to keep the information out of the public eye to ensure a fair demo. Sheriff’s officials have claimed it was workplace violence.
Zhao has lived in the United States for at minimum a dozen decades, Wagstaffe mentioned. He experienced legal paperwork to stay in the place at one particular time and investigators have been pinpointing irrespective of whether it was continue to valid, Wagstaffe said. They were being also on the lookout into his prior contact with regulation enforcement.
The District Legal professional is requesting no bail in the case thanks to the seriousness of the crime and Zhao getting a flight danger as a Chinese countrywide.
It was California’s 3rd mass shooting in eight times, including the killing of 11 in Monterey Park in Los Angeles County amid Lunar New Calendar year celebrations Saturday, and followed the killing of a teenage mother, her infant and 6 other people at a household in Tulare County in the Central Valley on Jan. 16. Officials talking about the investigation talked about a possible gang url to the killings.
Just hours soon after the Fifty percent Moon Bay capturing, many individuals ended up shot and a single man or woman was killed in Oakland during a new music online video shoot at a fuel station in close proximity to Mills Higher education.
Wagstaffe claimed the 50 percent Moon Bay mass capturing was the biggest in San Mateo County’s history.
The county coroner’s business office on Wednesday morning discovered 6 of the seven victims in Monday’s horrific mass capturing at two 50 % Moon Bay farms.
The victims have been discovered as:
- 50-calendar year-aged Moss Seaside resident Marciano Martinez Jimenez
- 73-12 months-outdated San Francisco resident Zhishen Liu
- 74-yr-old San Francisco resident Aixiang Zhang
- 64-yr-previous 50 percent Moon Bay resident Jingzhi Lu
- 66-yr-previous 50 % Moon Bay resident Qizhong Cheng
- 43-year-old Yetao Bing (home unidentified)
Authorities stated the seventh victim has been tentatively identified, but their name is remaining withheld pending positive identification and notification of subsequent of kin.
The Mexican Consulate in San Francisco on Wednesday verified two of the deceased victims are Mexican nationals, as effectively as the only surviving victim of the attack.
The Farmworker Caravan, an firm that has been conducting a aid push to offer support for farm employees impacted by current flooding and the 50 percent Moon Bay Capturing, is asking for donations and volunteers to enable with their efforts. Extra information and facts and a signal-up web site are out there on the net listed here.
CALIFORNIA MASS SHOOTINGS
Authorities imagine Zhao acted on your own Monday when he entered a mushroom farm where by he worked in Fifty percent Moon Bay, shot and killed four persons and very seriously wounded a fifth. He then drove to a close by farm exactly where he worked previously and killed a few more individuals, mentioned Eamonn Allen, a sheriff’s spokesperson.
The prices incorporate added allegations that could final result in the loss of life penalty or lifetime in prison devoid of parole, however Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued a moratorium on executions. Between these allegations are that Zhao applied a gun, brought about good bodily harm, killed various people, and experienced a prior felony conviction. No extra information were provided on the prior felony.
Chunli Zhao charging doc
Officers have reported some of the folks killed have been migrant personnel.
Servando Martinez Jimenez said his brother Marciano Martinez Jimenez was a delivery individual and manager at just one of the farms. He under no circumstances described Zhao or reported anything at all about troubles with other staff.
“He was a great particular person. He was well mannered and friendly with every person. He never ever had any problems with everyone. I you should not understand why all this took place,” Martinez Jimenez claimed in Spanish.
Marciano Martinez Jimenez had lived in the United States for 28 several years right after arriving from the Mexican point out of Oaxaca. Servando Martinez Jimenez said he is performing with the Mexican consulate to get his brother’s entire body residence.
It would not have been Zhao’s first in shape of office rage, the San Francisco Chronicle documented. In 2013 Zhao was accused of threatening to split a coworker’s head open with a knife and individually tried out to suffocate the male with a pillow, the Chronicle reported, dependent on court files.
The two were roommates and labored at a restaurant, and the person, recognized as Jingjiu Wang, filed a short-term restraining buy versus Zhao that was granted but is no extended in result. Wang could not be immediately achieved, the Chronicle described.
Meanwhile, a makeshift memorial of bouquets and candles grew in 50 percent Moon Bay Wednesday early morning as chilling new specifics emerged bordering the killing of the seven farmworkers fatally shot by a fellow employee.
At a information convention Tuesday afternoon, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo joined Gov. Gavin Newsom and uncovered some amazing facts of the capturing.
“They were being killed with intent, with intent, execution design and style,” Eshoo explained to reporters. “This local community, California and the place is reeling from it.”
Federico Nunez, whose ex-spouse, Juana, functions at Concord Farms, told KPIX she was equipped to escape the taking pictures unharmed.
Through an interpreter, Nunez mentioned Juana was approached by a gentleman she recognized as a previous fellow employee as the personnel had been wrapping up their working day.
He left and came back minutes later with a gun, killing her fellow staff. She advised Nunez she considered she was remaining unharmed mainly because she never had any problems with the guy.
At a information conference Tuesday, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus stated that the only regarded link involving the alleged shooter and his victims is that “they may have been coworkers.”
“All the proof we have factors to this becoming place of work violence,” Corpus informed reporters. “The Mountain Mushroom Farm, the initial locale, was the place the suspect was employed.”
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“We stay stunned and grief-stricken over the senseless reduction of four of our friends and very long-time workers, and we pray for the team member that continues to be in essential situation,” stated California Terra Garden in a assertion.
Dave Oates, a spokesman for California Terra Backyard, verified to KPIX late Tuesday that Zhao when lived at the Mountain Mushroom Farm web site for 7 many years and that California Terra Backyard garden took about functions in March 2022.
Oates claimed there had been three cellular households and 6 trailers for staff on the premises. Numerous of the people today who worked in the mushroom farms lived on web-site with their families in trailers and some of the young children reportedly witnessed the violence. Those family members have been quickly relocated to place motels joining other farmworker families displaced by recent floods in the location.
Corpus stated the coroner’s business was dealing with the difficult obstacle of notifying the households of the 7 staff who were killed because a lot of were migrants.
The incident commenced on Monday with San Mateo County Sheriff’s deputies getting dispatched at 2:22 p.m. to the Mountain Mushroom Farm on San Mateo Street in the vicinity of Highway 1 in unincorporated San Mateo County on a report of a shooting with various victims.
Upon arrival, deputies located four victims deceased with gunshot wounds. A fifth victim, also struggling from gunshot wounds, was transported to Stanford Medical Heart with everyday living-threatening accidents.
Deputies then raced to the next taking pictures scene — this one particular at an additional mushroom farm located at 2125 Cabrillo Highway S./Freeway 1. 3 other deceased victims were being observed there a quick time later on, the sheriff’s workplace claimed.
All through the police reaction to the taking pictures, the sheriff’s business office claimed a media staging would be located at a substation at 537 Kelly Ave. At around 4:40 p.m., a person sporting a white baseball-model cap was found remaining led absent from the substation in handcuffs.
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In accordance to the sheriff’s place of work, Zhao drove himself to the substation located among the two businesses and surrendered to deputies. The weapon — a semiautomated handgun — used in the shootings was uncovered in Zhao’s car or truck and was lawfully bought and owned, Allen stated.
For additional facts on how to help the 50 % Moon Bay farm local community, go to ALAS (Ayudando a Latinos a Soñar) at their website alasdreams.com.
