This is the second mass shooting in three days in California. Seven people were killed Monday near San Francisco in a double attack that appears to have been perpetrated by the same individual. According to CBS, a 67-year-old suspect, Zhao Chunli, was arrested.
“The suspect has been arrested. There is no longer any danger to the population at this time,” the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, which includes the town of Half Moon Bay where the tragedy took place, wrote on Twitter. The sheriff’s office previously wrote that its officers were responding to “a shooting that resulted in multiple casualties.”
The profile of the two Californian suspects is atypical: out of nearly 200 mass shootings listed by the Violence Project (pdf) since 1966, shooters are most often white (two out of three) and young (average age 34).
Affected agricultural workers
The two shootings took place on farms close to each other, local stations affiliated with ABC and NBC said. According to ABC, an eighth victim is seriously injured. The victims are mainly Chinese agricultural workers, according to a local elected official quoted by NBC.
The latest killings come less than 48 hours after an Asian gunman killed 11 people at a dance club near Los Angeles on the sidelines of Lunar New Year celebrations before killing himself. If the motive has not been established, the investigators favor the track of jealousy.
“I’m in the hospital meeting victims of a mass shooting when I’m pulled away to report another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay. Tragedy after tragedy,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Joe Biden has also been informed, his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter. The American president “has asked federal law enforcement to provide all necessary assistance to local authorities,” she said.