Just two days after a gunman killed 11 people at a Los Angeles-area dance studio, seven more people were shot dead in a seaside town near San Francisco, as California suffered one of its bloodiest spates of mass gun violence in decades.
Key points:
- The latest gun carnage struck Half Moon Bay, a town known for its surfing beaches and agriculture
- On Monday, a gunman there opened fire on farm workers at two locations, killing seven and wounding one
- The accused gunman, identified as Chunli Zhao, 67, was taken into custody
Authorities said they had not identified the motive for either of the rampages.
The attacks seemed especially baffling in part because the suspects in each were men of retirement age, much older than the typical perpetrator of deadly mass shootings that have become routine in the United States.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was visiting wounded survivors from Saturday night’s massacre in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park when he was informed of Monday’s killings in northern California. “Tragedy upon tragedy,” Mr Newsom wrote on Twitter.
The latest gun carnage struck Half Moon Bay, a town known for its surfing beaches and agriculture,
On Monday, a gunman there opened fire on farm workers at two locations about a mile apart, killing seven and wounding one, then fled. Authorities had not released information on the victims as of Tuesday morning.
The accused gunman, identified as Chunli Zhao, 67, was taken into custody later after he was found sitting in his vehicle, parked outside a sheriff’s station, where authorities said they believe he had come to surrender.
A semiautomatic handgun was found in his car, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus told an evening news conference.
Ms Corpus said the suspect, who was “fully cooperating” with investigators following his arrest, had worked at one of the two crime scenes.
She described the sites as agricultural “nurseries,” where some of the workers also lived. Local media reported one site was a mushroom farm.
The San Mateo District Attorney’s office told local news that it expected to file charges on Wednesday morning, and the suspect was due in court on Wednesday afternoon.
President Joe Biden said in a statement on Tuesday that he had been briefed on the Half Moon Bay shooting and had directed his administration to support local authorities.
“Even as we await further details on these shootings, we know the scourge of gun violence across America requires stronger action,” he said, calling on Congress to reintroduce a federal assault weapons ban.
The suspect in Saturday’s attack, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday in the van that authorities say he used to flee after being prevented from attacking a second dance hall.
Reuters