The disgruntled worker accused of killing seven people at two mushroom farms in the northern California town of Half Moon Bay may have carried out the attack over a $100 bill for damaged equipment.
Chunli Zhao, 66, told investigators he was angered by a bill from his boss for damage to heavy construction equipment that prompted his shooting, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaff said Bay Area News Group in Friday.
The damage was caused by a collision between Zhao’s forklift and a colleague’s bulldozer. Zhao insisted that the colleague was at fault, but his superior told him that he had to pay.
Enraged, Zhao shot the supervisor and co-worker dead, according to prosecutors.
He then went to the co-worker’s trailer and allegedly killed his wife before shooting two more employees at the California Terra Garden farm.
The accused shooter then drove to a second mushroom farm, Concord Farms, where he had previously worked, and killed a former assistant manager he felt wronged by, as well as another couple, This was reported by NBC Bay Area.
Zhao opened fire in front of children who was recently released from school for the day. In an interview with the TV station, Zhao described the years of harassment and long hours on the farms. He also said that he believed he was suffering from some kind of mental illness and had not been in right mind on the day he did the shooting.
Speaking in Mandarin from the county jail in Redwood City, Zhao said he has been in the U.S. for 11 years and has a green card. He said he has a 40-year-old daughter in China and lives with his wife in Half Moon Bay.
Zhao said he purchased the gun in 2021 and did not encounter any obstacles in the purchase.
The medical examiner’s office named six of the victims: Jishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach, Calif.; 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 hometown is unknown.
Charging documents identified Jose Romero Perez as the other person killed and Pedro Romero Perez as the eighth victim who survived.
#Moon #Bay #mass #shooter #Chunli #Zhao #motivated #repair #bill
