At least seven people were shot dead and one person was seriously injured, in two separate locations in a small coastal community in Central California. This was the second mass shooting in the state in three days.
The suspect, 67-year-old Chunli Zhao, was arrested Monday more than two hours after the Half Moon Bay shooting. San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said Zhao was taken into custody. Authorities believe Zhao went it alone.
“This is a devastating tragedy for this community and the families affected by this unspeakable act of violence,” Corpus said at a news conference Monday evening.
At 2:22 p.m. PT, the sheriff said, deputies were notified of a shooting in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County. When they got to the first location, they found four bodies and one wounded. Shortly afterward, Corpus said, they found three more dead bodies elsewhere.
Many recent shootings around the country, such as the Monterey Park incident, have been widely discussed:
Dave Pine, Chairman of the San Mateo County Board of Trustees, told CNN earlier, a shooting took place at a mushroom farm and another at a trucking company about two miles from the farm.
Corpus said at 4:40 p.m., a sheriff’s deputy found the suspect in his car in the parking lot of a sheriff’s substation in Half Moon Bay. He was arrested without any problems. She said a semi-automatic pistol was found in his car at the time.
“These kinds of shootings are horrific,” Corpus said at the news conference. “It’s a tragedy we hear about way too often, but today it arrived here in San Mateo County.”
The sheriff said they don’t yet know what the motive was, but they believe the suspect went it alone and the community is not in danger.
Governor Gavin Newsom said he was meeting with victims of the Monterey Park mass shooting when he was “pulled away to be briefed on another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay.”
At the hospital meeting with victims of a mass shooting when I am pulled away to be briefed on another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay.
Tragedy upon tragedy.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 24, 2023
“Tragedy upon tragedy,” Newsom tweeted.
Over the weekend, 11 people were shot dead in Monterey Park. According to information on the city’s website, Half Moon Bay is about 28 miles south of San Francisco and in the western part of San Mateo County.
At least 7 dead, 1 injured and 1 suspect arrested in a shooting in Half Moon Bay, California. The suspect, 67-year-old Chunli Zhao, was arrested more than two hours after Monday’s shooting in Half Moon Bay. What are your thoughts on the growing number of shootings, such as those recently taking place in Monterey Park?
