California authorities have identified six of the seven victims of the crash, as the US continues to struggle with mass shootings and a gun violence ‘epidemic’.
A man accused of shooting seven people at two mushroom farms in northern California in the United States has been charged with murder and attempted murder.
Chunli Zhao, 66, is the only suspect in Monday’s shooting, which authorities called “workplace violence”, in the town of Half Moon Bay near San Francisco.
Zhao made the announcement Wednesday, hours before his first court appearance.
The Half Moon Bay tragedy was the second mass shooting in California in three days. On Saturday, 11 people were shot and killed in downtown Los Angeles’ Monterey Park during New Year’s celebrations.
The San Mateo County coroner’s office has identified six of the seven people killed in a shooting in Half Moon Bay on Wednesday, and officials said some were migrant workers.
The victims were: Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach, California; Aixiang Zhang, 74, of San Francisco; Qizhong Cheng, 66, of Half Moon Bay; Jingzhi Lu, 64, of Half Moon Bay; and Yetao Bing, 43, whose home is unknown.
A seventh victim was identified “at random”, but the name has not been released as authorities work to notify next of kin, the coroner’s office said.
Servando Martinez Jimenez said Marciano Martinez Jimenez’s brother was a laborer and manager of a farm. He never mentioned Zhao or said anything about problems with other employees.
“He was a good person. He was polite and friendly to everyone. He never had any problems with anyone. I don’t understand why all this happened,” Martinez Jimenez told the Associated Press.
Martinez Jimenez lived in the United States for 28 years after arriving in Oaxaca, Mexico. His brother Servando said he is working with the Mexican embassy to bring his brother’s body home.
Authorities said Zhao acted alone on Monday when he walked into a mushroom farm where he worked in Half Moon Bay, shooting and killing four people and critically wounding a fifth. He then drove to a nearby farm where he had previously worked and killed three other people, said Eamonn Allen, a sheriff’s office spokesman.
The charges include the death penalty or life in prison without parole, but Governor Gavin Newsom has put a moratorium on executions in California.
These factors include Zhao’s use of a firearm, causing grievous bodily harm, multiple murders and being guilty of criminal trespass. No additional information was provided on the previous incident.
The high-profile killings in California – two of the 40 shootings the non-profit Gun Violence Archive has documented in the US since the beginning of 2023 – have renewed calls to end gun violence, as several Democrats have called for stricter gun laws.
“We’re only 25 days into 2023 and 1,230 people have died by gun in the United States so far,” Congressman Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, tweeted. “69 of these people were killed by mass shootings. This is unacceptable. It’s time to #AssaultWeaponsBan NOW.”
Democrat Sara Jacobs, who represents the state of California, has also called for action to combat gun violence.
“Today we observed a moment of silence for the people who were shot during the Lunar New Year in Monterey Park,” he said in a social media post. But silence, thoughts, and prayers will not bring back the 11 lost lives or slow the healing of their families. We must take action and end the epidemic of gun violence. “
