On Monday, law enforcement reported that a gunman killed 7 peoples at two landscaping nurseries in Half Moon Bay, San Mateo County, south of San Francisco. The shooter was believed to be a worker at either one or both locations, and the victims were also believed to be workers, according to San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus. An eighth person was critically injured and taken to Stanford Medical Center.
The suspect, Chunli Zhao, a 67-year-old Half Moon Bay resident, was identified by the sheriff’s office and is in custody and cooperating with the investigation. The two locations are approximately a mile apart from each other and law enforcement does not currently have a motive for the shooting.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the first location around 2:22 p.m. local time and found four victims dead from gunshot wounds, with a fifth victim also injured. Three more victims were found at the second location soon after. Zhao was found in his vehicle in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s Office Half Moon Bay Police Substation at 4:40 p.m. A semiautomatic handgun was found in his vehicle, authorities said, and he is believed to have acted alone. There is no outstanding threat to the public, according to the sheriff’s office.
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President David Pine said, “This is a horrific event, one that we would never imagine would occur in San Mateo County. Gun violence in this country is at completely unacceptable levels and it’s really hit home tonight.”
This shooting occurred less than 48 hours after another shooting in Monterey Park, half moon bay California, where a gunman killed 11 and injured 9 at a Chinese-owned ballroom dance studio. The suspect, a 72-year-old Asian man, died by suicide, and authorities do not have a motive for that shooting.
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