Half Moon Bay Mass Shooting Suspect Will Face Rare Push for Death Penalty, DA Says

San Mateo County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Chunli Zhao, the man accused of killing seven co-workers in a 2023 mass shooting at two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in a court hearing on Tuesday.

The death penalty has become increasingly rare in California, and the case against Zhao is the first time Wagstaffe has pursued capital punishment since becoming district attorney in 2011.

Because of a gag order in the case, Wagstaffe told KQED he couldn’t provide details on why he’s seeking the death penalty. In 2023, however, Wagstaffe told KQED that he was open to pursuing capital punishment depending on what the sheriff’s investigation revealed.

“Making that decision on the death penalty is something that will take place over the course of the next many, many months as we have so much more to learn about this individual, about the victims and their families and the harm that’s been inflicted here,” Wagstaffe said at the time. “So we have a long way to go before we make that decision.”

Zhao, 68, has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with the Jan. 23, 2023, mass shooting, the deadliest in San Mateo County’s history.

Zhao was believed to have acted alone when he opened fire at California Terra Garden — the mushroom farm where he lived and worked for seven years — killing four and leaving one other seriously wounded, sheriff’s officials said. According to authorities, he then drove to a nearby farm where he had previously worked and killed three more people.

The attack allegedly stemmed from a dispute between Zhao and his boss, who had tried to charge him $100 for damaged construction equipment, Wagstaffe told the Mercury News in 2023.

Wagstaffe also previously confirmed reporting by NBC Bay Area that Zhao had confronted his boss and a co-worker, whom he blamed for a workplace accident, just before the shootings. The co-worker and boss were reportedly among those shot.

The killings shed light upon Half Moon Bay farmworkers’ deplorable workplace and living conditions. In a visit to the mourning community after the shootings, Newsom noted that farmworkers, many of whom are migrants, often labor for sub-minimum wage at just $9 an hour and are forced to live in on-site shipping containers, as was the case for Zhao and some of the shooting victims.

For months after the rampage, questions swirled about whether Wagstaffe would seek to execute the man officials have said is responsible for it.

Technically, the death penalty still exists in California, and prosecutors can seek it. But no one has been put to death in the state in nearly 20 years. In 2019, Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions and closed the death chamber at San Quentin, the recently renovated 19th-century prison overlooking San Francisco Bay.

Support for capital punishment has historically been low among Californians. In a 2021 poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, a plurality of voters favored abolishing the death penalty.

Of those surveyed, 44% said they would vote yes on a potential amendment to the state constitution to repeal the death penalty, while 35% favored allowing executions and 21% were undecided. The death penalty has not gone before state voters since 2016, when an effort to repeal it failed.

The outcome of November’s election raised further questions about whether voters are souring on progressive criminal justice policy. Californians overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, which increased penalties for drug and theft crimes, and rejected Proposition 6, which would have banned forced labor in prisons and jails.

Progressive district attorneys in Alameda and Los Angeles counties were also voted out of office, leading some to speculate about a potential sea change in attitudes toward reform efforts of previous decades.

KQED’s Keith Mizuguchi contributed to this report.