Seven people were killed in a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, California on Monday. The suspect, Chunli Zhao, 67, was arrested after driving to a police parking lot and attempting to turn himself in.
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus identified the suspect as Chunli Zhao, 67, and said he worked at one of the shooting locations. Corpus called the sites nurseries, and other officials said they were staffed by farm workers. Local media described at least one of them as a mushroom farm.
Deputies responding to a call found four people dead and a fifth victim with life-threatening wounds at the first location in Half Moon Bay, then found three more dead at another place nearby, Corpus said during the press conference.
The rural area was recently pounded by a series of heavy rainstorms that caused extensive damage, affecting immigrant laborers in the area, farm worker advocates said. A series of atmospheric rivers in the three weeks following Christmas killed 20 people statewide.
Video on ABC 7 from the Bay Area showed the arrest as two men in plainclothes and one uniformed deputy, guns drawn, ordered the man out of his car. The suspect came out, was thrown to the ground and searched for weapons. Multiple uniformed officers quickly arrived on the scene with long guns.
The suspect was cooperating with investigators but a motive had yet to be established, Corpus said. A semi-automatic handgun was found in his car, she added.
This shooting came just days after another mass shooting in the southern California city of Monterey Park that killed 11 people.
