Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/REDWOOD CITY: A 66-year-old immigrant farm worker has formally been charged with premeditated murder on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of 7 co-workers near San Francisco, the second of two-gun rampages in California in three days in which 18 people were killed.
Chunli Zhao, a Chinese national and the lone suspect in Monday’s massacre at two mushroom farms in the seaside town of Half Moon Bay, formally has been charged with seven counts of murder and a single count of attempted murder during his first court appearance in nearby Redwood City.
Zhao, wearing red-colored jail garb and enclosed behind a glass panel, was ordered held without bond during a brief hearing before a San Mateo County Superior Court judge. The pudgy defendant, with close-cropped gray hair, was expressionless throughout the hearing. He was assigned two private defense lawyers; no plea was entered.
The immigrant
Chunli, wearing red-colored jail garb and enclosed behind the glass panel, was ordered held without bond during the brief hearing before a San Mateo County Superior Court judge. The pudgy defendant, with close-cropped gray hair, was expressionless throughout the hearing. He assigned two private defense lawyers; no plea was entered.
The further court proceeding in the case was set for Feb. 16.
A Mandarin-language translator has been provided for the defendant, who, according to District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, is a Chinese citizen who has lived in the United States for at least ten years.
After the hearing, Wagstaffe said that outside the courthouse that prosecutors have not yet determined Zhao’s precise immigration status or whether he entered the country legally.
The prosecutor said that authorities do have an idea about the suspect’s motives but declined to share any information. Wagstaffe revealed the existence of one clue, saying the note was found inside Chunli’s car, though he declined to disclose what it said.
