Half Moon Bay shooting sparked by $100 repair bill, prosecutor says : NPR

FBI officials head to the scene of the crime at Mountain Mushroom Farm, January 24, 2023, after a gunman killed several people at two farming businesses in Half Moon Bay, California.

Aaron Kehoe/AP

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Aaron Kehoe/AP

FBI officials head to the scene of the crime at Mountain Mushroom Farm, January 24, 2023, after a gunman killed several people at two farming businesses in Half Moon Bay, California.

Aaron Kehoe/AP

SAN FRANCISCO — A farm worker accused of killing seven people at two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms reportedly told investigators he was pressured into carrying out the shooting after his supervisor demanded he pay $100 to fix a damaged forklift at work.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe confirmed to the Bay Area News Group on Friday that Chunli Zhao was enraged by the equipment bill, saying a colleague was responsible for the collision between his forklift and the bulldozer. of the colleague.

KNTV-TV, NBC’s San Francisco Bay Area affiliate, was first to report the development.

Authorities say Zhao, 66, fatally shot and killed four workers and injured a fifth employee Monday at the California Terra Garden. He then drove to nearby Concord Farms, where he had previously worked, and shot dead three former colleagues.

Zhao told KNTV-TV in a courthouse interview on Thursday that he committed the shooting. He said he was bullied and worked long hours on the farms and his complaints were ignored, the station reported.

On Monday, Zhao told his supervisor about the bill, but the supervisor insisted he had to pay. Zhao then allegedly shot the supervisor and co-worker, media reported.

Speaking in Mandarin, Zhao told the TV station from a Redwood City County jail that he had been in the United States for 11 years and had a green card. He said he had a 40-year-old daughter in China and lived with his wife in Half Moon Bay.

The coroner’s office named six of the victims: Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach, Calif.; Aixiang Zhang, 74, of San Francisco; Qizhong Cheng, 66, from Half Moon Bay; Jingzhi Lu, 64, from Half Moon Bay; and Yetao Bing, 43, whose hometown was unknown.

Charging documents identified Jose Romero Perez as the other person killed and Pedro Romero Perez as the eighth victim, who survived.