FBI officials walk toward the crime scene at Mountain Mushroom Farm, January 24, 2023, after a gunman killed several people at two agricultural businesses in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Aaron Kehoe/AP
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Aaron Kehoe/AP
FBI officials walk toward the crime scene at Mountain Mushroom Farm, January 24, 2023, after a gunman killed several people at two agricultural businesses in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Aaron Kehoe/AP
SAN FRANCISCO — A farm worker accused of killing seven people at two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay has told investigators he was prompted to carry out the shooting after his supervisor fell in love. Ask him to pay $100 to repair a damaged forklift at work.
San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe confirmed Bay Area News Group on Friday that Chunli Zhao was angry because of the equipment billsays a coworker is responsible for a collision between his forklift and a coworker’s bulldozer.
KNTV-TV, NBC’s affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area, was the first to report on the development.
Authorities said Zhao, 66, shot dead four workers and injured one Thursday at California Terra Garden. He then went to nearby Concord Ranch, where he had worked previously, and shot dead three former colleagues.
Zhao told KNTV-TV in a court interview on Thursday that he carried out the shooting. He said he was bullied and worked long hours on farms and his complaints were ignored, the station reported.
On Monday, Zhao vented his anger at his supervisor about the bill, but the supervisor insisted he needed to pay. Zhao then allegedly shot the supervisor and co-worker, news agencies reported.
Speaking in Mandarin, Zhao told the broadcaster from a county jail in Redwood City that he had been in the US for 11 years and had a green card. He said he has a 40-year-old daughter in China and lives with his wife in Crescent Bay.
The coroner’s office named six victims: Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach, California; Aixiang Zhang, 74 years old, from San Francisco; Qizhong Cheng, 66 years old, at Half Moon Bay; Jingzhi Lu, 64 years old, at Half Moon Bay; and Yetao Bing, 43, whose hometown is unknown.
The incriminating documents identify Jose Romero Perez as the other person killed and Pedro Romero Perez as the eighth victim, survivors.
