The farmworker accused of fatally taking pictures 7 folks at two Northern California mushroom farms confronted arraignment Wednesday on seven counts of murder, one count of tried murder and connected prices.

Chunli Zhao, 66, of 50 percent Moon Bay is accused of killing five adult males and two females.

San Mateo County District Lawyer Steve Wagstaffe reported Wednesday that Zhao also faces a specific circumstance allegation of a number of murder, as effectively as sentencing enhancements on every single count for the use of a firearm. Zhao could encounter lifetime in prison without the likelihood of parole – or even the death penalty, although Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on executions in 2019.

Other developments

A semiautomatic gun employed in the fatal shootings was legally purchased and owned, San Mateo Sheriff Christina Corpus mentioned.

‘BUT THE SHOOTER WAS ASIAN!:That will not negate the reality of anti-Asian violence.

‘NO Protected SPACES’:For Asian Us citizens, California shootings insert to rising mental wellness disaster

GUNS Employed IN RAMPAGES:California shooters had semi-automated weapons. What about other mass shootings?

Former roommate stated Zhao threatened and tried to suffocate him

Monday’s deadly attacks at two internet sites ended up not the first violent incidents linked to Zhao that were identified to regulation enforcement, however the previous episode did not lead to a decline of life.

In March 2013, his roommate and former coworker Yingjiu Wang used for a short term restraining get right after accusing Zhao of threatening to “use a kitchen area knife to break up my head” and attempting to suffocate him with a pillow, according to courtroom documents acquired by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The pillow assault in Wang’s area developed into a wrestling match on his bed throughout which, “when I couldn’t breathe, I utilised all my could in just the couple of seconds to press him absent with my blanket,” Wang wrote in the application, according to the Chronicle.

The restraining order was granted and later on prolonged but expired in July of that calendar year, the Chronicle documented. Wang, whom the newspaper could not achieve for comment, claimed in the ask for that Zhao was threatening to kill him except if Wang acquired him his restaurant career again. Zhao also demanded that Wang get his paycheck, while it can be not apparent Wang was his supervisor, the Chronicle claimed.

Zhao lived on house where very first killings took location

Zhao lived at the residence in which four of the victims were being killed, a corporation spokesman mentioned Wednesday. David Oates informed CNN the site, known as Mountain Mushroom Farm in advance of it was obtained by California Terra Back garden final 12 months, has three cellular households and six trailers where some employees live. Zhao was working at the farm, which has about 35 workforce, when it was bought, Oates stated.

“Everyone experienced history checks, and there was very little to show nearly anything like this was even a likelihood,” Oates reported.

Most victims’ names introduced

The identities of 6 of the 7 victims ended up released Wednesday by the San Mateo County Coroner’s Place of work, which mentioned the seventh killed in Monday’s attacks has been tentatively determined. His or her name would not be unveiled until good confirmation and notification to relatives.

The six known victims are: Aixiang Zhang, 74, and Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco Qizhong Cheng, 66, and Jingzhi Lu, 64, of Fifty percent Moon Bay Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Seaside and Yetao Bing, 43, whose residence is not recognized. They ended up all farmworkers.

Could a much better mental wellness program have prevented the violence?

The 50 percent Moon Bay tragedy came two times right after a rampage in Monterey Park, practically 400 miles southeast, remaining 11 individuals useless. The Half Moon Bay victims were being discovered as Latino and Asian American farmworkers.

On Twitter, Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., puzzled whether or not a better mental wellness products and services system could have prevented the violence.

“We really do not know motives however, but I speculate how things could’ve been various had there been a potent mental health and fitness and social assistance community,” Meng wrote. “Yes it is about gun basic safety laws, of course it is about halting Asian despise, but also a generation of (Asian American Pacific Islander) elders with a lifestyle of unaddressed trauma.”

What was developed on the farm in which Zhao lived?

The farm largely grows mushrooms for retail and wholesale clients, Oates reported, along with herbs these types of as basil and oregano. The owners of the farm are bringing in grief counselors for all the personnel, Oates claimed.

“Their intention suitable now is to check out to bring most people jointly to start out a long healing process,” Oates claimed. “They seem at workforce members additional like family.”

OLDEST MASS SHOOTER:California mass shooting suspect is oldest in U.S. recorded heritage, researchers say

How did the capturing acquire place?

The attacks began Monday at a mushroom farm where Zhao was used, authorities mentioned. Law enforcement identified as to the scene shortly soon after 2 p.m. discovered 4 personnel dead of gunshot wounds and an additional worker seriously hurt. The suspect then proceeded to Harmony Farms, a brief travel down the road, where a few more folks were being killed, authorities said.

Some employees lived on the premises and young children may perhaps have witnessed the capturing, authorities mentioned. The suspect was arrested in his vehicle, parked outdoors a sheriff’s substation, at about 4:40 p.m. Online video of the arrest has been extensively circulated on social media.