Half Moon Bay Mass Shooting Suspect Who Killed 7 in California Pleads Not Guilty

The suspect in the Half Moon Bay mass shooting in California that left seven people dead and one injured pleaded not guilty to all charges against him at an arraignment on Thursday.

While standing behind a glass partition during the court proceeding in Redwood City, Chunli Zhao entered the pleas for seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in the January 23 killings at two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay.

The 66-year-old Chinese citizen used a Mandarin-language interpreter to communicate, CNN reported. Zhao was seen looking down for most of the hearing and not speaking with his interpreter.

San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill scheduled the next court hearing for May 3 after the suspect's public defense lawyers asked for more time to go through the evidence.

Authorities said Zhao shot five people at a mushroom farm where he worked - only one survived. He also killed three more at a farm some two miles away. Five of the seven killed were reportedly Chinese citizens.

On Friday, Al Jazeera reported that San Mateo County Judge Elizabeth Lee issued a gag order to prevent Zhao, his lawyers, the prosecution, and the local sheriff's office from providing facts or opinions about the ongoing case to reporters. The gag order was issued days after the suspect was interviewed by NBC Bay Area's Janelle Wang while inside a jail.

Half Moon Bay Suspect Chunli Zhao Says He Regrets Carrying Out the Mass Shooting in California

During the 15-minute jailhouse interview with Janelle Wang on January 26, Chunli Zhao admitted that he carried out the fatal shootings. Speaking to Wang in Mandarin at the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City, Zhao claimed he was not in his right mind and did not know what was happening to him "mentally" on the day of the shootings.

He also expressed remorse and said he drove to the sheriff's substation to surrender after the shootings as he regretted what he did. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told CNN that the suspect's statements to police "were consistent with what he told the reporters," referring to the NBC Bay Area interview.

Wagstaffe previously told KTVU that Zhao "had a dispute with the first victim regarding a $100 bill," which sparked the two shootings. The money is for the fee of repairing a piece of farm equipment damaged in an accident at his workplace.

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus told CNN that Zhao had a semi-automatic weapon that was legally registered to him. According to Zhao, he bought the gun in 2021 and had no problems when making the purchase. The said firearm was the one he used in the killings.

While Zhao had been previously accused of violence, he was only recently known to local police. According to CNN, he was subject to a temporary restraining order after he was accused of attacking and threatening a former coworker and roommate in San Jose in 2013.

Half Moon Bay Mass Shooting in California Shows Migrant Workers' Condition at the Farms

The shootings revealed concerns about the living conditions among migrant workers living on farms in San Mateo County. According to Mercury News, county and state inspectors have described the workers' dwellings at California Terra Garden, where five people were killed, as "deplorable."

Families there live in shacks with leaky roofs and no kitchens and running water. Farm owners allegedly neglect their struggling workforce, including Zhao and his victims.

After the shooting, California Terra Garden announced plans to build new permanent housing for its workers on its property along Highway 92 in the next 12 months.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Alleged Half Moon Bay Gunman Pleads Not Guilty to 7 Murder Counts - From KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco