HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — A gunman killed seven individuals in two areas in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Monday, shaking a state nonetheless mourning one other mass capturing simply days earlier than.
The police arrested Zhao Chunli, age 67, of Half Moon Bay in reference to the shootings after he was present in his automobile within the car parking zone of a San Mateo County Sheriff’s Workplace substation within the city, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned, and there was no persevering with risk to the neighborhood.
He was taken into custody “with out incident” and was “absolutely cooperating,” Sheriff Christina Corpus mentioned. Investigators consider he acted alone, she mentioned.
Investigators haven’t established a motive, in keeping with Capt. Eamonn Allen of the sheriff’s division. The native authorities have been working with the F.B.I. and had not uncovered a prison historical past or previous incidents at both of the scenes, he mentioned.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California wrote on Twitter that as information of the capturing broke, he had been at a hospital, assembly victims of a mass capturing on Saturday in Monterey Park. In that assault, a gunman fatally shot 11 individuals.
“Tragedy upon tragedy,” Gov. Newsom mentioned.
Monday’s shootings occurred round 2:20 p.m. in Half Moon Bay, a rural seaside city between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. The seashores are a well-liked browsing vacation spot, and the inland mountains are residence to one of many state’s oldest agricultural communities, which employs migrant employees.
A minimum of one of many two areas was a plant nursery, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.
“There have been farmworkers affected tonight. There have been youngsters on the scene on the incidents. This can be a really heartbreaking tragedy in our neighborhood,” San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller mentioned in a information convention, the place he alluded to the storms which have pounded the realm in latest weeks. “The quantity of stress that’s been on this neighborhood for weeks is de facto fairly excessive.”
4 individuals have been discovered lifeless at a location close to Freeway 92, and a fifth particular person with life-threatening accidents was taken from that website to Stanford Medical Middle, in keeping with the sheriff’s workplace. Three extra individuals have been discovered lifeless a couple of mile away, on the outskirts of the town.
The sheriff’s workplace mentioned late Monday that it was working to establish the victims and notify their households. All of the victims have been adults, however some employees lived on the location of one of many shootings together with youngsters, Sheriff Corpus mentioned.
“It was within the afternoon, when children have been out of faculty,” she mentioned. “For youngsters to witness that is unspeakable.”
No connection between the 2 areas was instantly identified. Sheriff Corpus mentioned the police believed the suspect was a employee on the plant nursery the place one of many assaults occurred. The gunman drove from one website to the opposite, she mentioned, and a semiautomatic handgun was present in his car.
Video of the substation car parking zone the place the suspect was arrested reveals three law enforcement officials pulling him from a maroon S.U.V. They then pushed him to the bottom and handcuffed him as he lay there.
The suspect spoke Mandarin and had issue with English, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned. Investigators introduced in a detective who speaks Mandarin to interview him, Capt. Allen mentioned.
All through the afternoon, a nonprofit group took individuals by van from a criminal offense scene to a household reunification middle on the I.D.E.S. Portuguese Corridor, a neighborhood middle run by a non secular society in downtown Half Moon Bay.
About 40 individuals have been sheltering there on Monday night. Amongst them have been older individuals and youngsters, together with one enjoying with a German shepherd police canine.
Although the identities of the victims weren’t identified, at the least one of many capturing scenes was an agricultural website, the place employees additionally lived.
Lorena González Fletcher, president of the California Labor Federation, mentioned that many farmworkers within the area have been in a susceptible place as a result of they’ve low wages and are sometimes on non permanent work visas or are undocumented. The United Farm Employees labor union has supplied emergency support within the space after the latest floods, she added.
“It’s heartbreaking to consider the households torn aside simply attempting to reside their lives,” mentioned Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for the union.
On the neighborhood middle, employees related to the group who had transported individuals there have been talking in Spanish with a few of the households, whereas one other nonprofit group coordinated provides. A volunteer requested a police officer standing guard on the door what measurement diapers they wanted.
