The 66-year-old suspect, Chunli Zhao, a farm worker in the US pleaded not guilty through a Mandarin-language interpreter to killing 7 people at two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay, California while at a court appearance in Redwood City.
Zhao who had previously admitted to carrying out the shooting in a jailhouse interview with local outlet KNTV-TV faces seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for his alleged role in the mass shooting which took place on January 23 at farms where he had previously been employed.
He allegedly killed four co-workers, wounding a fifth after accusing them of bullying and ignoring his difficult working conditions during his time on the farm.
Zhao is alleged to have shot and killed three former co-workers at Concord Farms, where he had worked for about four years before being fired in 2015.
President Biden called it a senseless act but it had underscored harsh conditions faced by California’s poorly paid, largely migrant agricultural labour force. All of the victims in the shooting were of Asian or Latino descent.
US: Suspect In Half Moon Bay Mass Shooting Pleads Not Guilty
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