On January 23, 66-year-old Chinese national Chunli Zhao allegedly killed seven people in a shooting spree at two farms in Half Moon Bay, in California's San Mateo County. Zhao was arrested shortly after the shooting.
While Chunli Zhao's motive remains unconfirmed, authorities in San Mateo County officials believe that it was rooted in a workplace dispute. Zhao, who had previously worked as an employee at both farms, claimed that his supervisor had unfairly bullied him.
According to Fox, the shooting may have been spurred by the fact that a farm supervisor had insisted that Chunli Zhao pay a $100 repair bill for a forklift that had reportedly been damaged at his workplace.
The coroner's office has identified the victims of the shootings as Zhishen Liu (73), Marciano Martinez Jimenez (50), Aixiang Zhang (74), Qizhong Cheng (66), Jingzhi Lu (64), and Yetao Bing (43). The seventh victim, Jose Romero Perez, was identified in the charging documents.
While the supervisor and his wife were among the victims killed in the attack, officials have not yet disclosed their names.
The events that allegedly led Chunli Zhao to commit the Half Moon Bay shootings
According to NPR, before the shootings, Chunli Zhao was using a forklift during work when he collided with a bulldozer that was being driven by one of his co-workers. After the incident, the farm supervisor reportedly blamed Zhao for the accident and demanded that he pay a $100 repair bill.
The New York Post reported that on the day of the shooting, Zhao had gone to the Mountain Mushroom Farm to confront the supervisor about the bill.
Sources claim that when the supervisor insisted that he pay the bill, the suspect fatally shot him, the co-worker involved in the incident, and two others. A fifth victim at the scene, Pedro Romero Perez, was also shot but survived the incident. He then reportedly proceeded to go to the Concord farm, where he fatally shot three others.
In an interview with KNTV-TV, Zhao said that he was angry that the supervisor forced him to work long hours and refused to listen to his complaints. The suspect added that he has lived and worked in the US for 11 years on a green card.
Zhao's motivations may have also been spurted by anger issues, as court documents show that the suspect has a history of violence. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that in 2013, he was accused of threatening his roommate before attempting to suffocate him with a pillow.
The roommate, Jingjiu Wang, said:
“Mr. Zhao said to me, today I am going to kill you. He then took a pillow and started to cover my face and suffocate me.”
If convicted of the murders, Zhao could potentially face the death penalty.