Mass Shooting Prompts Calls To Investigate 'Squalor' At HMB Farms

HALF MOON BAY, CA — After a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay earlier this week put a national spotlight on the living and working conditions of Peninsula coast farm workers — described as horrific according to multiple accounts — momentum to investigate their employers is growing.

Chunli Zhao, 66, is facing seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with a shooting that occurred Monday at two nearby mushroom farms, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. Zhao is being held without bail.

If convicted, he faces life without parole, or the death penalty.

“Some of you should see where these folks are living, the conditions they’re in,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday during a press conference in Half Moon Bay.

“They’re living in shipping containers. Shipping containers.”

San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe on Wednesday confirmed that he’s spoken with several public officials about the conditions described by the governor, among others.

“They have been out there, and they have seen some of the squalor that exists out there,” Wagstaffe said.

Wagstaffe said his office’s primary focus on will be on “holding this man (Zhao) accountable for what he did,” but he said Mike Callagy, the county’s executive officer, indicated interest in investigating the conditions at these farms.

He said Callagy told him during a phone call Wednesday morning: “Now we know about it, and we have to act on it.”

“I believe there will be steps taken to deal with that situation,” Wagstaffe said.

Half Moon Bay Vice Mayor Joaquin Jiménez said that in the aftermath of this tragedy, the community’s farm workers will no longer be unseen.

“Many of you come to the community for the pumpkins and ignore the farmworkers,” Jiménez said.

“Not today. We're not going to ignore anybody. We're going to support each other."

San Mateo County District 3 Supervisor Ray Mueller described the living conditions at the farms as “deplorable” after visited the crime scenes on Thursday. He tweeted photos showing an outdoor cooking area where food is stored and a room where people sleep.

“Deplorable, heartbreaking living conditions,” Mueller said in a tweet.

“As I said on the campaign trail, we must raise the quality of life of farm workers, NOW.”

Newsom’s office issued statement Thursday morning pledging to investigate the Half Moon Bay farms linked to the mass shooting.

“The conditions farmworkers shared with the Governor – being paid $9 an hour and living in shipping containers are simply deplorable. Many workers have no choice but to tolerate the conditions provided to them by their employers," the statement said.

"Our country relies on their back-breaking work, yet Congress cannot even provide them the stability of raising their families and working in this country without fear of deportation, which contributes to their vulnerability in the workplace. That is no way to live. California is investigating these farms involved in the Half Moon Bay shooting to ensure that workers are treated fairly and with the compassion they deserve.”

A United Farm Workers spokesperson told The San Francisco Chronicle that the conditions the world is learning about in Half Moon Bay are widespread in California’s agriculture industry.

“It’s tragic that it took a shocking act of violence and seven lost lives to draw attention to it, but it is a reality faced not just in the Half Moon Bay area but across California,” UFW Communications Director Antonio De-Loera Brust told The Chronicle.

Accounts of horrific living conditions farmers endure have been a revelation to many in Half Moon Bay.

“We don’t see that,” said Janelle Magnusson, a psychotherapist who has lives in Half Moon Bay.

“We’re very sheltered from that. We see the beautiful, right? But we’re not seeing how these people live day to day.”

Half Moon Bay Vice Mayor Joaquin Jiménez said that in the aftermath of this tragedy, the community’s farm workers will no longer be unseen.

“Many of you come to the community for the pumpkins and ignore the farmworkers,” Jiménez said.

“Not today. We're not going to ignore anybody. We're going to support each other."