Gov. Newsom says GOP obstruction is preventing federal action against gun violence
By CNN’s Veronica Miracle and Augie Martin
“Republican obstruction” at the federal level is preventing some form of gun control from becoming law, California Governor Gavin Newsom told CNN, saying we are “only as good as our weakest link.”
Newsom, a Democrat, said that while people are dying from shootings, Republicans are working on culture war items like content in advanced placement courses or whether to use the word “Latinx.”
“We chose this, this is our decision, to live in these conditions,” he said, adding that Republicans are doing this under the guise of freedom.
Half Moon Bay farmworkers “were killed with purpose, with intent, execution-style,” lawmaker says
The farm workers who were shot in Half Moon Bay “were killed with purpose, with intent, execution style,” Rep. Anna Eshoo said at a news conference Tuesday.
Eshoo insisted that the issue of gun violence in the United States remains “unfinished business.”
“Until it’s our finished business, there will be pain in many communities,” she added.
Chinese immigrants caught in gunfire did not know how to comprehend the mass shooting, governor says
California Governor Gavin Newsom described mass shootings as a phenomenon so inherently American that some of the Chinese immigrants he met in the vicinity of the massacre in Half Moon Bay did not know how to understand what happened.
The governor said her translator did not know how to convey exactly what many of the people caught in the shooting were witnessing and thinking.
The governor thanked first responders and local officials for their quick actions during and after the shooting.
He also touted the state’s strict gun laws, saying, “Gun safety works. We will not back down from this determination.”
California lawmakers vow to reduce gun violence following Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park shootings
Three of the members of the California State Assembly who represent San Mateo County said they will continue to push for laws that would reduce violent incidents like those that have occurred in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park in recent days .
The Half Moon Bay community’s sense of peace “was shattered by senseless death,” said Assemblyman Marc Berman, noting that workplace disagreements and relationship disagreements occur all over the world.
“But it is only in the United States where far too often these disagreements end in mass shootings,” he said, promising that the state will do everything to further reduce such incidents.
Some context: California already has the strongest gun laws in the country, according to the advocacy groups Everytown for Gun Safety and The Giffords Law Center.
The semi-automatic handgun believed to be used by the Half Moon Bay suspect was legally purchased and owned, authorities said. The origin of the weapons used by the suspect in Monterey Park is being investigated by the authorities.
Suspect in Half Moon Bay shooting was previously accused of trying to suffocate former coworker
By CNN’s Casey Tolan and Curt Devine
Nearly a decade before he allegedly went on a killing spree at two Northern California mushroom farms, the suspected gunman was accused of trying to choke and threatening to kill a former colleague at another job.
Police say Chunli Zhao fatally shot seven people, including some of his co-workers, at two mushroom farms on Monday. But it wasn’t the first time he was accused of violence against someone he worked with, court records obtained by CNN show.
Zhao was subject to a temporary restraining order after a former employee and roommate accused him of assaulting and threatening him in 2013.
Yingjiu Wang, who worked with Zhao at a restaurant and lived with him in a San Jose apartment, wrote in a court statement that Zhao’s violent behavior began after Zhao quit his job at their shared workplace in March 2013 .
Early in the morning two days later, Zhao came to Wang’s room and asked for his salary. When Wang told him to pick it up at the restaurant, Zhao said he was going to kill Wang, then “took a pillow and started covering my face and suffocating me,” Wang wrote.
While unable to breathe, Wang wrote, “I used all my strength within a few seconds to push him away with my blanket.”
He said he called for help and another fellow came to the door, but that Zhao locked it. The two men fought on Wang’s bed before Zhao calmed down, according to Wang.
Two days later, he wrote, Zhao threatened him again, saying that “he can use a knife to cut my head if he doesn’t come back to work.” Wang wrote that he had no control over Zhao’s employment status at the restaurant.
A judge issued a temporary restraining order against Zhao, barring him from getting too close to Wang and also prohibiting him from owning or buying a gun, according to court documents. In July 2013, the reservation order expired.
The incident was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
An attorney for Zhao in the 2013 complaint did not respond to requests for comment. Wang could not be reached for comment.
FBI offering investigative support and help for victims after Half Moon Bay shooting
The FBI sent technical and forensic support to assist the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office to assist in their investigation of the mass shooting.
“We have now transitioned to providing victim services, and are in the process of identifying resources to assist victims of this mass casualty event,” said Robert Tripp, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco field office.
Tripp spoke at a press conference Tuesday in Half Moon Bay.
Sheriff: 5 men and 2 women killed by gunman in Half Moon Bay mass shooting
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus confirmed that five men and two women were killed by the gunman in the Half Moon Bay shooting.
A man who was also shot is in stable condition at the hospital, she said during a news conference Tuesday.
Earlier, officials had reported that the victims consisted of seven men and one woman, one of whom was hospitalized.
Earlier, the sheriff’s office noted that the 66-year-old suspect was an employee at the mushroom farm where one of the incidents occurred, and evidence indicates that it is an instance of workplace violence. The victims were of Asian and Hispanic descent and possible co-workers, officials said.
NOW: Gov. Newsom and San Mateo sheriff’s department hold news conference on Half Moon Bay mass shooting
The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department and California Governor Gavin Newsom hold a news conference on the Half Moon Bay mass shooting.
Suspect in Half Moon Bay mass shooting lived at one of the locations where people were killed, company says
The gunman in a shooting that killed a total of seven people at two locations in Half Moon Bay, California, lived on the property where four of the victims were killed, according to a company spokesperson.
The site, formerly known as Mountain Mushroom Farm, was purchased by a company called California Terra Garden in March 2022, spokesman David Oates told CNN.
There are three mobile homes and six trailers for employees on the property, and the suspected gunman, Chunli Zhao, has lived there since at least the spokeswoman said.
Zhao started working at the farm before Terra Garden bought it and was one of about 35 employees, according to Oates.
“Everybody had background checks, and there was nothing to indicate that something like this was even a possibility,” he said.
The farm grows mushrooms and “other food-grade herbs like basil, oregano, those kinds of things … mainly mushrooms sold retail and wholesale,” Oates said.
The farm’s owners bring in grief counselors for all employees, Oates said. “Their goal now is to try to bring everyone together to start a long healing process. They look at team members more than family,” he said.