DA to pursue death penalty for Half Moon Bay mass shooting suspect
San Mateo County prosecutors announced Tuesday they are seeking the death penalty against Chunli Zhao, who is charged with murdering seven people during a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay in January 2023.
The decision to seek the death penalty, which was announced by San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe during a court hearing, comes even as California has a moratorium on executions.
Zhao, 68, is accused of fatally shooting seven people and severely injuring another in what prosecutors described as a fit of workplace rage that became the deadliest mass shooting in San Mateo County's history.
Zhao has pleaded not guilty to the charges — seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder — and denied all allegations. Zhao waived his right to a speedy jury trial, Wagstaffe said previously.
Authorities said Zhao, a farmworker, walked into his workplace, the California Terra Garden, and opened fire just after 2 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2023, leaving four people dead and another person with life-threatening injuries.
Zhao then drove to Concord Farms, authorities said, where he shot and killed three other people, all of whom were also farmworkers.
Law enforcement said that after the shootings, Zhao drove to the San Mateo County sheriff's substation in Half Moon Bay, where he was taken into custody.
Wagstaffe's decision to seek the death penalty against Zhao comes after months of debate over whether to pursue capital punishment, the Mercury News reported. Zhao's trial has not yet been scheduled.
Even those sentenced to die in California, however, are not executed. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on death penalty executions upon taking office in 2019 then dismantled the execution chamber at San Quentin. Many of the Democrats most likely to succeed him in 2026 also oppose the death penalty.
At the same time, death penalty sentences have fallen in the state. As of January, juries in California have sentenced 20 convicted murderers to death in the past six years, an average of 3.3 per year, according to a report from the Death Penalty Policy Project. From 1995 through 2000, there were 223 death sentences in the state, or 37.3 per year.
California voters, in past elections, have decided against getting rid of the death penalty permanently. In 2012 and 2016, majorities of 52% and 53% rejected ballot measures to reduce the maximum sentence to life in prison without parole.
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