A cluster of mobile homes is seen at California Terra Garden, formerly Mountain Mushroom Farm, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. The site is one of two farms where a gunman killed seven people. Prosecutors charged a 66-year-old man in the case. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday.
Chronicles of Santiago Mejia/San Francisco via AP
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Chronicles of Santiago Mejia/San Francisco via AP
A cluster of mobile homes is seen at California Terra Garden, formerly Mountain Mushroom Farm, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. The site is one of two farms where a gunman killed seven people. Prosecutors charged a 66-year-old man in the case. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday.
Chronicles of Santiago Mejia/San Francisco via AP
Redwood City, Calif. – A farm worker was charged with the murder of seven people last month in a behind-the-scenes shooting at two Northern California mushroom farms pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
Chunli Zhao, 66, was charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Prosecutors said on January 23, he opened fire at the Half Moon Bay mushroom farm where he worked, killing four colleagues and injuring another. They say he then drove to a mushroom farm he was fired from in 2015 and shot dead three former colleagues.
Zhao acknowledged the shooting in a prison media interview days after the shooting. Zhao Bao KNTV-TV he was bullied and worked long hours on farms and his complaints were ignored.
Wearing a red prison uniform on Thursday, Zhao appeared behind a glass wall in the courtroom with his head bowed and spoke only when a Chinese interpreter relayed the judge’s question, Mercury News. At a hearing last week, Zhao cried so loudly that the judge ordered a short break.
The judge last week issued a gag order barring prosecution and defense attorneys, as well as Zhao and the county sheriff’s office, from speaking to reporters about the facts of the case or sharing opinions. about what happened. They can still discuss the rulings that have been made in public court and the procedural status of upcoming hearings.
Earlier, the judge approved the defense attorneys’ request to restrict remote access to court records.
