A suspected gunman was in custody on Monday over the killing of seven people in a rural group in northern California, simply two days after a mass shooting at a Lunar New Year celebration close to Los Angeles.
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The latest bloodshed occurred at two farms round Half Moon Bay, a coastal group south of San Francisco.
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus stated seven individuals have been killed and one wounded in the dual shootings, and {that a} 67-year-old Half Moon Bay resident named Chunli Zhao had been taken into custody.
Reports stated the dead have been Chinese farmworkers, and that Zhao had labored at one of many farms.
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Corpus stated deputies had been dispatched to 2 nurseries round Half Moon Bay, a rural spot identified for browsing contests and a pumpkin pageant, round mid-afternoon on Monday.
Four individuals have been dead at considered one of them and one was critically wounded, whereas three extra fatally wounded victims have been discovered at a second location.
Corpus stated kids have been current at one of many websites.
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“It was in the afternoon when kids were out of school and for children to witness it is unspeakable,” she stated.
Corpus stated Zhou then drove to a sheriff’s substation in Half Moon Bay, the place ABC7 crews captured dramatic footage of him being pulled to the bottom by armed officers.
“Zhao was taken into custody without incident and a semi-automatic handgun was located in his vehicle,” Corpus stated.
At the second shooting location, a brief distance from the mushroom farm the place 4 individuals have been killed, sheriff’s deputies’ vehicles packed a roadside enterprise plaza, residence to outlets providing get together leases, landscaping provides and different companies.
Probing the motive
As the brand new tragedy unfolded, detectives in southern California have been nonetheless probing what drove an aged Asian man to shoot dead 11 individuals gathered for Lunar New Year at a suburban dance corridor on Saturday evening – earlier than taking his personal life as police closed in.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna stated Huu Can Tran, who had been arrested in 1994 for illegal possession of a firearm, fired 42 rounds in the assault in Monterey Park.
“What drove a madman to do this?” he stated.
Luna confirmed officers had been advised Tran could have been identified to a few of his victims.
News of a second mass shooting in California in lower than 48 hours unfold ripples of shock by way of the state, which has among the strictest firearm legal guidelines in the US.
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“At the hospital meeting with victims of a mass shooting when I get pulled away to be briefed about another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay. Tragedy upon tragedy,” tweeted Governor Gavin Newsom.
Saturday evening’s mass shooting was the worst in the United States since a teenage gunman in Uvalde, Texas killed 21 individuals at an elementary college final May.
‘Hostile’
On Monday, an image started to emerge of the offender in Monterey Park, a person who, based on his marriage license, had immigrated from China, and who had been a daily on the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the previous.
Tran’s ex-wife advised CNN the couple had met there twenty years in the past when he provided to provide her casual classes.
The lady, who didn’t wish to be named, stated they married a short while later, however the relationship didn’t final, with the divorce finalized in 2006.
She stated Tran, who typically labored as a truck driver, was not violent, however might be impatient.
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A person who stated he had beforehand identified Tran stated he would complain about dance academics, who, he claimed, would say “evil things about him,” CNN reported.
He was “hostile to a lot of people there,” the person advised the broadcaster.
Detectives who searched a cell residence the place Tran had been dwelling in Hemet, 140km east of Los Angeles, recovered a rifle, electronics and ammunition, Luna stated.
Police in the town stated earlier this month Tran had made “fraud, theft, and poisoning allegations involving his family in the Los Angeles area 10 to 20 years ago.”
‘Her last dance’
The household of 65-year-old My Nhan stated the tragedy was “still sinking in.”
“She spent so many years going to the dance studio in Monterey Park on weekends,” a press release stated.
“It’s what she loved to do. But unfairly, Saturday was her last dance.”
Amid the grief, one story of heroism emerged.
Brandon Tsay, 26, revealed how he grappled with Tran because the aged man arrived at one other dance studio, in what police consider was a deliberate second assault.
“He was hitting me across the face, bashing me in the back of my head, I was trying to use my elbows to get the gun away from him,” Tsay advised ABC.
“Finally, at one point I was able to pull the gun away from him, shove him aside, create some distance, point the gun at him… shouting, ‘Get the hell out here.’”
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
