A farmworker charged with killing seven people at two Half Moon Bay farms reportedly told investigators he was driven to commit the crimes after his supervisor demanded he pays $100 to repair a forklift damaged at work.
According to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, Chunli Zhao was angered by the equipment bill and believed that a co-worker was to blame for the collision between his forklift and the co-worker’s bulldozer.
Zhao, 66, shot and killed four workers and wounded a fifth at California Terra Garden. Afterward, he went to nearby Concord Farms, where he previously worked, and shot three former co-workers.
Zhao admitted to the shooting in a courthouse interview. He said he was bullied and worked long hours on the farms, and his complaints were ignored.
The coroner’s office has named six of the victims: Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach, California; Aixiang Zhang, 74, of San Francisco; Qizhong Cheng, 66, of Half Moon Bay; Jingzhi Lu, 64, of Half Moon Bay; and Yetao Bing, 43, whose hometown was unknown.
The charging documents identified Jose Romero Perez as the other person killed and Pedro Romero Perez as the eighth victim, who survived.
