6 days ago
Prosecutors to seek death penalty in Half Moon Bay mass shooting case
Prosecutors in San Mateo County said they will seek the death penalty against the man suspected of killing seven people in Half Moon Bay at his upcoming trial.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced the decision Tuesday in the case of Chunli Zhao. The 66-year-old is accused of shooting eight people at two mushroom farms on Jan. 23, 2023.
Authorities said Zhao shot several people at the California Terra Gardens where he worked, killing four and wounding a fifth victim. Zhao is also accused of fatally shooting three more people at Concord Farms, where he was previously an employee, before surrendering to authorities.
FILE - Chunli Zhao appears for his arraignment at San Mateo Superior Court in Redwood City, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. Zhao, a farmworker charged with killing seven people at two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms told investigators he was spurred to carry out the shootings after his supervisor demanded he pay $100 to repair a forklift damaged at work. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group via AP, Pool,File)
Shae Hammond / AP
The victims who died have been identified as Yetao Bing, 43, Zhishen Liu, 73, Aixiang Zhang, 74, Qizhong Cheng, 66, Jingzhi Lu, 64, Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, and Jose Romero Perez, 38.
Zhao pleaded not guilty in Feb. 2023 to seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder and remains in custody. A judge has granted a defense request for a gag order in the case.
An executive order signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 has suspended the state's use of the death penalty and closed the state's execution chamber at San Quentin, but did not change the sentencing of any inmates.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the state currently has 587 people on death row.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 6 to set a trial date, prosecutors said.
