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The Chinese farm worker accused of fatally shooting seven people and wounding another in the Half Moon Bay area of northern California will be arraigned in Redwood City on Wednesday.
Chunli Zhao, 66, is believed to have acted alone in the shooting on Monday at a plant nursery and mushroom farm in the area.
Zhao is expected to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. local time at the Redwood City Hall of Justice, San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said.
He was arrested hours after the attack while parking his truck at a Half Moon Bay police substation. Zhao is cooperating with the investigation.
Chunli Zhao, the man accused of fatally shooting seven people in Half Moon Bay, California, appears for his arraignment at San Mateo Criminal Court in Redwood City, California on January 23.
Chunli Zhao, 66, is believed to have acted alone in the shooting on Monday at a plant nursery and mushroom farm in the area.
wagstaffe said KRON which expected the suspect to be charged with seven counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, firearms enhancement and one count of ‘multiple murder’. He is being held without bail.
The weapon used in the attack was a legally purchased semi-automatic pistol. Investigators have not publicly said what the motive for the shooting was, but San Mateo County Sheriff’s spokesman Eamonn Allen said signs point to workplace violence.
The charges Zhao faces have not been confirmed. His court appearance comes a day after California Governor Gavin Newsom visited the area where the massacre occurred.
The governor took advantage of his appearance in town to ask for gun control.
Community members visit a memorial to shooting victims at Mac Dutra Park in Half Moon Bay
Elisabeth Olander, 68, a Half Moon Bay resident, weeps at the memorial for the victims of the massacre.
San Mateo County officials are still working at the scene of the shooting Wednesday.
Chunli Zhao is expected to face seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Authorities have yet to release the names of the five men and two women who died, nor the man who was injured. Some were Asian and at least three were of Mexican nationality.
Allen said Zhao entered a mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay, California, and opened fire, killing four and seriously wounding another. He then drove to another nearby farm where he had previously worked and killed three other people.
Authorities have not made Zhao’s criminal record public. In 2013, Zhao was accused of trying to choke his roommate and threatening to split her head open with a knife, he reports. the New York Times.
The pair worked at the same restaurant with Zhao accusing his friend, Yingjiu Wang, of stealing his paycheck. Wang received a temporary restraining order against Zhao.
It is not known if the suspect has ever been diagnosed with any type of mental illness.
Officials keep Chunli Zhao’s legal record secret ahead of his arraignment
Authorities have yet to release the names of the five men and two women who died, nor the man who was injured. Some were Asian and at least three were of Mexican nationality.
Servando Martínez Jiménez said that his brother Marciano Martínez Jiménez, who was a delivery man and manager of one of the farms, was among those killed. Servando Martínez Jiménez said his brother never mentioned Zhao or said anything about problems with other workers.
‘He was a good person. He was polite and kind to everyone. He never had a problem with anyone. I don’t understand why he went through all this,’ Martínez Jiménez said in Spanish outside his Half Moon Bay home.
Marciano Martínez Jiménez, 50, had lived in the United States for 28 years after arriving from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Servando Martínez Jiménez said he is working with the Mexican consulate to bring his brother’s body home.
Half Moon Bay is a small, sleepy, coastal, farming town about 30 miles south of San Francisco. Its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean make it a popular spot for hikers and tourists, who flock for surfing and for an annual giant pumpkin festival.
The shooting occurred as California was still reeling from an attack in Monterey Park outside Los Angeles that killed 11 people and cast a shadow over Lunar New Year celebrations, an important holiday for many Asian-American communities. Authorities are still looking for a motive for Saturday’s shooting.