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California authorities determine six of the seven victims, as US reels from mass shootings and gun violence ‘epidemic’.
The accused gunman in a mass capturing that left seven folks lifeless at two northern California mushroom farms in the USA has been charged with seven counts of homicide and certainly one of tried homicide.
Chunli Zhao, 66, was the lone suspect in Monday’s capturing, which authorities described as “office violence”, within the city of Half Moon Bay close to San Francisco.
The fees in opposition to Zhao have been introduced on Wednesday, hours earlier than he was set to look in court docket for the primary time.
The Half Moon Bay tragedy was the second main mass capturing in California in three days. On Saturday, 11 folks have been fatally shot within the Los Angeles space city of Monterey Park amid Lunar New Yr celebrations.
The San Mateo County coroner’s workplace recognized six of the seven victims within the Half Moon Bay capturing on Wednesday, and officers mentioned there have been some migrant employees amongst them.
The victims have been: Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Seaside, 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 seventh sufferer was “tentatively” recognized, however the identify has been withheld as authorities work to inform family, the coroner’s workplace mentioned.
Servando Martinez Jimenez mentioned his brother Marciano Martinez Jimenez was a supply particular person and supervisor at one of many farms. He by no means talked about Zhao or mentioned something about issues with different employees.
“He was an excellent particular person. He was well mannered and pleasant with everybody. He by no means had any issues with anybody. I don’t perceive why all this occurred,” Martinez Jimenez informed the Related Press information company.
Martinez Jimenez had lived in the USA for 28 years after arriving from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. His brother Servando mentioned he’s working with the Mexican consulate to get his brother’s physique dwelling.
Authorities say Zhao acted alone on Monday when he entered a mushroom farm the place he labored in Half Moon Bay, capturing and killing 4 folks and significantly wounding a fifth. He then drove to a close-by farm the place he had labored beforehand and killed three extra folks, mentioned Eamonn Allen, a sheriff’s workplace spokesperson.
The fees embody further components that might consequence within the demise penalty or life in jail with out parole, however Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a pause on executions in California.
These components embody that Zhao used a gun, prompted nice bodily harm, killed a number of folks and had a previous felony conviction. No further particulars have been supplied on the prior felony.
The high-profile massacres in California — two of the 40 mass shootings the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive has recorded within the US because the begin of 2023 — have renewed calls to curb gun violence, as a number of Democrats advocated for stricter gun rules.
“We’re solely 25 days into 2023 and 1,230 folks have died from gun violence in the USA to this point,” Congressman Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, wrote on Twitter. “69 of those deaths have been in mass shootings. That is unacceptable. It’s time for an #AssaultWeaponsBan NOW.”
Democrat Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, who represents a California district, additionally referred to as for motion in opposition to gun violence.
“In the present day we noticed a second of silence for the victims of the Lunar New Yr capturing in Monterey Park,” she mentioned in a social media submit. “However silence, ideas, and prayers gained’t convey again the 11 lives misplaced or ease their households’ therapeutic. We have to take motion and at last finish the gun violence epidemic.”
