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Multiple victims in additional mass shootings in California

January 24, 2023

A man is in custody after he allegedly opened fire on people at two separate locations in Half Moon Bay in California. He was taken into custody after driving to a police parking lot.

https://p.dw.com/p/4Mbum
Law enforcement personnel on the scene of a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, California
The two incidents happened at farms close to each other in an area south of San FranciscoImage: Jeff Chiu/AP/picture alliance

At least seven people were killed, and one critically injured, in two related mass shootings in Half Moon Bay in the US state of California on Monday

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said the victims were killed on adjacent farms in the community about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of San Francisco.

Deputies responding to a call found four people dead and a fifth victim wounded at the first location, then found three more dead at another place nearby, Corpus said.

A 67-year-old Half Moon Bay resident, Zhao Chunli, was taken into custody in connection with the shootings, and the sheriff's department believes he acted alone.

Officials believe Zhao was a worker at one of the farms and that the victims were workers too.

Police investigate the scene of a mass shooting off Cabrillo Highway in Half Moon Bay
NBC Bay Area cited a Half Moon Bay city councilwoman saying the victims are Chinese farmworkers.Image: Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group/AP/picture alliance

'Tragedy upon tragedy'

The suspect has been was taken into custody after a deputy spotted his car in the parking lot of a San Mateo County Sheriff's Department substation.

Video on the Bay Area ABC 7 affiliate showed the arrest as two men in plainclothes and one uniformed deputy, guns drawn, ordered the man out of his car.

The suspect came out of his car and was thrown to the ground and searched for weapons. A gun was found in his car.

Monday's shooting followed only two days after a shooter killed 11 people in Monterey Park, California.

Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted that he was "at the hospital meeting with victims of a mass shooting when I get pulled away to be briefed about another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay. Tragedy upon tragedy."

White House press spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the incident.

lo/ar (AP, AFP, Reuters)