Second mass shooting in three days in California: 7 people killed

Seven people have been killed in two shootings in Half Moon Bay, California. The 67-year-old shooter was a worker at one of the farms where the crimes occurred, reports Reuters.

Photo: IStock

He turned himself in to police, San Mateo County Sheriff Cristina Corpus said.

Just two days after a gunman killed 11 people at a dance studio in the Los Angeles area, seven more people were shot to death in an agricultural area near San Francisco.

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Authorities said they have not determined a motive for either incident. This seems especially strange, in part because the suspects in each were men of retirement age. The shooters were much older than those who typically commit these types of crimes - the deadly mass shootings that have become commonplace in the United States.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was visiting wounded survivors of the Jan. 21 shooting in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park on the evening of the Jan. 23 killings in northern California.

"Tragedy after tragedy," Newsom tweeted.

Otherwise, these episodes seem to have had little in common.

The January 23 shooting took place in the coastal town of Half Moon Bay, about 48 miles south of San Francisco. An armed man opened fire on groups of agricultural workers at two locations about 1,5 kilometers apart. As a result, seven people were killed and one was seriously injured, but he managed to escape.

The accused shooter, named Chunli Zhao, 67, was taken into custody shortly after he was found sitting in his car parked near the sheriff's station. According to the authorities, he came to surrender.

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A semi-automatic handgun was found in his car, San Mateo County Sheriff Cristina Corpus said at an evening press conference.

The Corps said the suspect, who had "fully cooperated" with investigators after his arrest, worked at one of the two crime scenes. She described these places as agricultural farms, where some workers also lived. Local media reported that one farm was growing mushrooms.

News of the Half Moon Bay shooting comes amid an investigation into a shooting at the Star Ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park, east of downtown Los Angeles, where 11 people were shot and killed by a gunman. Nine more people were injured.

Authorities said the suspect, 72-year-old Huu Kang Tran, is himself a long-time dance enthusiast at the Star Ballroom, which is mostly a gathering place for the elderly.

Tran shot himself in his parked cargo van on the morning of January 22, about 12 hours after the shooting, when police surrounded him in the city of Torrance, south of Los Angeles.

Saturday's violence unfolded in the midst of Chinese New Year celebrations in Monterey Park, the center of the Asian-American community in Southern California, which initially raised concerns that the attack might have been racially motivated. The second day of events has been cancelled. According to Hilda Solis, a member of the County Board of Supervisors, this was the deadliest mass shooting in Los Angeles County.

By comparison, the 21 murder of 1984 people at a San Diego McDonald's restaurant ranks as the largest loss of life in a single shooting incident in California history.

14 people were killed in San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles County, in 2015 by a couple who authorities described as extremists inspired by foreign terrorist groups. A few hours later they were killed in a shootout with the police.

The last two shootings are also notable for the age of the suspects: one in his 60s, the other in his early 70s.

A database of 185 mass shootings between 1966 and 2022, maintained by the nonprofit Violence Project, includes only one crime of its kind committed by someone over 70 — a retired coal miner killed five people in Kentucky in 1981.

At a dance hall in Monterey Park, investigators recovered 42 shell casings and a large ammunition magazine from the scene, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters on January 23.

He said a search of the suspect's mobile home at a gated community for seniors in Hemet, 120 miles east of Los Angeles, turned up a rifle, electronic devices and items "that lead us to believe the suspect was making homemade products" - silencers for weapons. Police also recovered hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the home and a handgun from the suspect's vehicle.

Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said investigators are looking into unconfirmed reports that the abuse may have been caused by jealousy or relationship problems.

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Adam Hood, who rented a home from Tran in the Los Angeles area, said his landlord loves ballroom dancing and regularly visits the Star Ballroom, although he complained that others gossip behind his back.

“He was distrustful of people in the studio, he was angry and distrustful. I think it's reached a boiling point," Hood said.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• January 21 in California The gunman shot and killed 10 people and wounded XNUMX others. at a ballroom dance club in the Los Angeles area during Chinese New Year celebrations.

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