Half Moon Bay shooting.Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty

HALF MOON BAY, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 23: A San Mateo County sheriff deputy checks in FBI agents as they arrive at the scene of a shooting on January 23, 2023 in Half Moon Bay, California. Seven people were killed at two separate farm locations that were only a few miles apart in Half Moon Bay on Monday afternoon. The suspect, Chunli Zhao, was taken into custody a few hours later without incident. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The man suspected of killingseven people in Half Moon Bay, Calif., allegedly targeted specific individuals at his workplace, authorities announced.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said Chunli Zhao, 66, used a legally obtained semi-automatic weapon to shoot and kill “individuals that he targeted… What we know is this turned into a workplace violence incident, and he had an opportunity, we believe, to hurt other people, but he targeted individuals that he went after and pursued.”

“He wasn’t a red flag for us, nothing to put him on our radar,” Corpus said, noting the suspect did not have a criminal history. “He was known to the individuals at his workplace because he was employed there.”

Half Moon Bay shooting.Jeff Chiu/AP/Shutterstock

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jeff Chiu/AP/Shutterstock (13732338b) Police tape is placed near the scene of a shooting, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Multiple people were killed in two related shootings Monday at a mushroom farm and a trucking firm in a coastal community south of San Francisco, and officials say a suspect is in custody Northern California Fatal Shooting, Half Moon Bay, United States - 23 Jan 2023

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About two hours later, Zhao, a farmworker, was taken into custody without incident outside of a San Mateo County Sheriff’s substation in Half Moon Bay, where he was spotted sitting in his car.

The names of those killed are being withheld pending next of kin notification, but Half Moon Bay Mayor Deborah Penrosetold CNNmany of the victims are believed to be of Asian descent. “We do know that some of the victims were Chinese, that the perpetrator was Chinese and that this was an agricultural community — they were agricultural workers.”

Chunli Zhao.

Chunli Zhao

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Jail records indicate Zhao faces charges of premeditated murder and first-degree attempted murder, in addition to a firearms enhancement.

He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

The shooting in Half Moon Bay comes on the heels ofanother brutal massacre in California’s Asian communityon Saturday that left 11 people dead in Monterey Park.

The day after that mass shooting, the suspect,Huu Can Tran, 72, fatally shot himself in a van as authorities closed in on him.

source: people.com