A minimum of seven folks had been killed in a pair of associated shootings which have rocked the beach-side neighborhood of Half Moon Bay, an act of violence that comes simply two days after 11 folks had been killed in one other mass capturing in Monterey Park.
A 67-year-old resident of the neighborhood is accused of opening hearth at two rural places a couple of mile distant, capturing among the victims in entrance of kids who lived close by and had not too long ago been launched from college.
“This sort of capturing is horrific; it’s a tragedy we hear about too typically,” San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus stated. “For youngsters to witness that is unspeakable.”
The suspect, believed to be a employee at one of many close by farms or nurseries, was arrested about two hours after the shootings whereas sitting in a parked automotive at a sheriff’s substation.
The victims are additionally believed to be employees at close by farms, officers stated.
Deputies with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Workplace first discovered 4 victims shot to dying within the 12700 block of San Mateo Highway in an unincorporated space of the county simply earlier than 2:30 p.m.
A fifth sufferer was additionally discovered within the space and brought to Stanford Medical Heart with life-threatening accidents, the Sheriff’s Workplace stated in an announcement to The Occasions.
Minutes later, in an space a couple of mile away, within the 2100 block of Cabrillo Freeway, deputies discovered three extra victims lifeless of obvious gunshot wounds.
Corpus stated the suspect was believed to have pushed from one location to the following, capturing the unidentified victims at every web site.
The motive for the shootings continues to be unknown, sheriff’s officers stated in an announcement.
The capturing suspect, recognized as Chunli Zhao, was noticed sitting in his automotive on the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Workplace substation in Half Moon Bay at about 4:40 p.m., officers stated.
Video from ABC 7 confirmed deputies taking a person to the bottom within the parking zone. The person was sporting a white cap, vest and pink long-sleeve shirt.
The weapon believed to have been used within the incident, a semiautomatic handgun, was discovered inside his automotive.
Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga is founder and govt director of the San Mateo County nonprofit Ayudando Latinos a Soñar, which relies in Half Moon Bay. The group works with farmworkers there weekly. She stated the ALAS staff, which offers academic, psychological well being and social providers, was on the Mountain Mushroom Farm, close to one of many capturing websites, about an hour earlier than the violence occurred. She stated there are Spanish- and Mandarin-speaking farmworkers there.
“It’s actually arduous to see this,” she stated. “Our farmworkers give a lot to us, and to see this violence occurring is only a tragedy.”
Hernandez-Arriaga was on the household reunification heart, arrange by the Sheriff’s Workplace on Fundamental Avenue in Half Moon Bay, on Monday night time, working to assist these affected.
“We’re all right here ready to listen to collectively who had been the victims,” she stated, noting “the affect that is going to have on our lives.”
“Our little city,” she stated, “has at all times been so protected and so protected.”
San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller was additionally on the heart Monday night time. Mueller stated he was a witness to at least one household discovering out that their relative was amongst these killed.
He estimated that, as of seven:30 p.m., there have been 30 to 40 folks on the heart, many looking for counseling.
California has skilled three mass shootings in lower than two weeks: The killing of six folks at a house in Goshen, Calif., then the Monterey Park bloodbath at a dance studio, and now the Half Moon Bay incident.
“That is tragic on a number of ranges,” stated San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa. Noting that the victims had been Chinese language farmworkers, he stated it was “horrific that it’s a Lunar New 12 months [and] you will have folks massacred each in Monterey Park and within the Half Moon Bay space. We needs to be celebrating, however as a substitute we discover ourselves — due to gun violence — burying harmless folks.”
“Gun violence on this nation has hit unacceptable ranges,” stated San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President David Pine, acknowledging the tragedy that occurred in Monterey Park on Saturday. “Our hearts are damaged.”
The Half Moon Bay shootings rank among the many deadliest within the San Francisco Bay Space, topped in current reminiscence solely by the 2021 incident when a employee for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority shot and killed 9 co-workers at a lightweight rail yard.
Monday’s killings introduced condemnation from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who stated on Twitter: “Tragedy upon tragedy.” President Biden stated by way of his spokesperson that federal authorities had been providing help.
Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) famous the dimensions of violence to hit California: “Two hours in the past I joined my colleagues on the Capitol steps for a vigil for the victims of the capturing in Monterey Park,” he stated on Twitter. “Earlier than we’ve even had an opportunity to mourn them, there’s yet one more mass capturing — this time in Half Moon Bay. In my district.”
Officers stated that the suspect was cooperating with detectives and that they hoped to have a greater sense of what occurred quickly.
“It is a devastating tragedy for this neighborhood and the households touched by this unspeakable act of violence,” Corpus stated.
Many within the rural area south of San Francisco had been attempting to come back to phrases with what occurred.
“We don’t have any concept what was the motive. All I do know is that if somebody can kill somebody, they’re not effectively,” Hernandez-Arriaga stated.
Occasions workers writers Rong-Gong Lin II, Luke Cash and Christian Martinez contributed to this report.
