California farm shooting suspect Chunli Zhao says he was bullied at work in TV interview
- The Chinese immigrant admitted to killing seven current and former colleagues in Half Moon Bay, saying he was not in his right mind at the time
- Zhao says he bought the gun used in the shootings in 2021 and did not run into any obstacles when making the purchase
A farmworker charged in the killings of seven current and former co-workers at two Northern California mushroom farms admitted during a jailhouse interview that he committed the fatal shootings.
Chunli Zhao, 66, told KNTV-TV that he wasn’t in his right mind when he entered a mushroom farm where he worked in Half Moon Bay and shot and killed four people and seriously wounded a fifth.
He then drove to a nearby farm where he worked previously and killed three more people, prosecutors said.
Zhao said he was bullied and worked long hours on the farms and that his complaints were ignored, the station reported.
Eric Hove, one of Zhao’s lawyers, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
He spoke in Mandarin with the television station reporter during a 15-minute interview at a county jail in Redwood City.