The death penalty is possible for the 66-year-old Chinese man who killed seven in California

The death penalty is likely for 66-year-old Chinese man Chunli Zhao who was arrested on Monday 1/23 in front of the Half Bay Moon police station near San Francisco. after the attack he launched against two farms in the area. The migrant farm worker is accused of killing seven of his co-workers in California and injuring another. He appeared in court yesterday, where he was charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty or innocent to the charges.

Judge Susan Yabowski ordered that Chunli Zhao remain in custody and appear in court again on February 16. Authorities have provided the accused with a Mandarin interpreter, as San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaff said he is a Chinese national who has lived in the US for at least 10 years, APE-BPE reports, citing Reuters and AFP.

So far his status has not been examined, nor if he entered the country legally. As Wagstaff told the San Francisco Chronicle, Chunli could face “life or death” if convicted.

He is cooperating with the authorities

THE death penalty still in effect in California, although no executions have taken place since 2006. According to him, the defendant is cooperating with authorities, who have some evidence of his motive. However, Wagstaff refused to give any further details, although he did reveal that a note was found in the attacker’s vehicle.

County Sheriff Christina Corpus said Tuesday that it appeared Chunli Zhao knew his victims – five men and two women – who were of Asian and Latino descent.

“All the evidence we have shows that this is an incident of workplace violence,” he said, explaining that the perpetrator pursued specific victims, although he had the opportunity to shoot at others, and that he was a co-worker or former co-worker of the victims at both farms. She added that Chunli Zhao was not known to authorities, but CNN and other US media have reported that he had been placed under restraints after a colleague accused him of assaulting and threatening him in 2013.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna noted that the gunman bought the gun he used to commit the crime on Feb. 9 in Monterey Park. According to him, it is a Cobray CM11-9 semi-automatic handgun, which is illegal in California.

Chunli Zhao and his wife lived, like other workers, at the Mountain Mushroom Farm where he launched the first attack.

Half Moon Bay, a town of 12,000 south of San Francisco, is both an upscale resort and a farming community. The shooting incident has once again brought to light the difficulties faced by land workers in the region, many of whom are immigrants from Latin America or Asia and who often live in squalid camps and work long hours in poor conditions and with extremely low wages.