The man accused of gunning down seven people last year at two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms once again pleaded not guilty Thursday on seven murder charges in the largest mass shooting in Sam Mateo County’s hsitory.
Chunli Zhao, 67, spoke little during the brief hearing, which came a month after a San Mateo County grand jury indicted him in the January 2023 workplace massacre. He also faces a charge of attempted murder.
The indictment — which mimicked charges filed just days after the shooting spree — was sought as a way to “move the case along” after delays affected the timing of a key evidentiary hearing, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. As a result of the indictment, no such preliminary hearing is needed and the case is now bound for trial.
“The victims’ families deserve to have this move along,” said Wagstaffe, shortly after the indictment last month.
Zhao had pleaded not guilty to the original charges and has been in custody since surrendering to authorities hours after the mass shooting. He remains held without bail.
Prosecutors say Zhao killed four workers and severely wounded a fifth at California Terra Garden, a mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay where he lived and worked for seven years, most recently as a forklift driver. The violence appeared to stem from a workplace grudge, according to authorities — one triggered by a $100 equipment bill from his boss for damage to heavy construction equipment.
Moments before opening fire, Zhao vented his frustrations at the supervisor and a co-worker whom Zhao blamed for a collision between his forklift and a bulldozer, prosecutors allege. After the confrontation, he allegedly shot the supervisor and the coworker, along with the co-worker’s wife and two others at the farm.
Prosecutors suspect Zhao continued his shooting spree at Concord Farms, another mushroom farm across town. There, investigators say he killed a former assistant manager whom he felt wronged by, as well as another couple.
The shooting illuminated deep concerns about living conditions among migrant workers living on farms across San Mateo County. County and state officials have described the workers’ dwellings at California Terra Garden as “deplorable,” with families living in shacks with leaky roofs and no running water or kitchens.
A subsequent Bay Area News Group investigation found that laws meant to ensure livable farmworker housing often went unenforced in San Mateo County, allowing farm owners to neglect their struggling workforce, including the shooter and his victims.
