Accused of Half Moon Bay mass shooting once tried to suffocate a former colleague with a pillow: report

The accused Half Moon Bay shooter who allegedly shot and killed seven farm workers – in what authorities called workplace violence – reportedly attempted to strangle a colleague a few years ago.

A suspect in the 2013 mass shooting of Chunli Zhao was accused of trying to kill his roommate after getting angry that the man didn’t have checks from a job that Zhao had fired a few days earlier. This was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. citing Santa Clara County Court documents.

Court documents allege that Zhao allegedly threatened Jingju Wang’s roommate and tried to suffocate him with a pillow after sneaking into his room.

“Mr. Zhao told me that today I will kill you,” Wang reportedly wrote. “Then he took a pillow and started covering my face and choking me.”

Wang repelled the attack using “all his strength,” according to a restraining order application, the Chronicle reported.

Zhao, 66, was arrested on Monday after he allegedly shot dead seven people at two mushroom farms in the small coastal town of Half Moon Bay. He allegedly killed four people and wounded one at a Mountain Mushroom farm and then fatally shot three more at another mushroom farm a few miles away.

The two farms hired Zhao before he carried out his fatal attack, authorities said.

The deadly rampage was the third mass shooting in California this month, coming just days after 11 people were shot dead in a Monterey Park ballroom shooting.

Evidence indicates the shooting was the result of a likely incident of workplace violence, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said. Zhao was arrested after he parked his car at the sheriff’s station, where the police pulled him out of the car.

According to San Mateo Sheriff Cristina Corpus, the semi-automatic pistol used in the fatal shooting was bought and legally owned. according to ABC 7.

Some of the victims were Asian, others were Hispanic and some were migrant workers, authorities said.

A San Mateo County sheriff’s deputy walks to a police tape as law enforcement investigates following a January 23, 2023, mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, California. Getty Images

A law enforcement officer seals up an entrance near a family reunion center following a January 23, 2023 shooting in Half Moon Bay, California. AP

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Law enforcement officers inspect a vehicle parked in the area where the suspect’s vehicle was found on January 23, 2023 in Half Moon Bay, California. AP

A neon sign illuminates the site of a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, California on January 23, 2023. George Nikitin/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Law enforcement officers investigate property after the mass shooting on January 23, 2023 in Half Moon Bay, California. Getty Images

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Law enforcement officers work at the scene of a January 23, 2023 shooting in Half Moon Bay, California. Getty Images

Shooting scene in Half Moon Bay, California on January 23, 2023. AFP via Getty Images

Police tape covers a crime scene near where several victims were found dead in a shooting in Half Moon Bay, California on January 23, 2023. Reuters

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“For the second time in recent days, California communities are mourning the loss of loved ones in a senseless act of gun violence,” President Biden said Tuesday.

“While we await further details about these shootings, we know that the scourge of gun violence in America calls for stronger action.”

Zhao’s erratic behavior in 2013 also included threatening Wang with a knife, days after the strangulation attempt. According to the court document, Zhao allegedly asked Wang to return his job at the restaurant.

“If it can’t be done, it will be a big problem that won’t be good/pleasant for everyone. It seemed like a threat to me and the restaurant I work at,” Wang wrote, according to the Chronicle.

“Mr. Zhao said he would use a kitchen knife to split my head open,” he also said in a court document.

It is not clear if Wang was a manager at the restaurant where Zhao used to work. The motion was granted by the judge, but has since expired, Chronicle reports.

With mail wires

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