Asian farm worker shoots seven dead in California

An Asian farm worker was in custody, on Monday, after seven of his colleagues were killed in front of children at sites in California, days after a mass shooter killed 11 people at a Lunar New Year celebration near Los Angeles.

The most recent massacre of Asian Americans in California took place at two farms at Half Moon Bay, a seaside town close to San Francisco.

According to San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, Chunli Zhao, 67, a resident of Half Moon Bay, was arrested after the twin gunshots left seven people dead and one injured.

Detectives at the southern end of the state were still looking into what caused an elderly Asian immigrant to shoot dead 11 people who were celebrating at a suburban dance hall before killing himself as police closed in as the fresh tragedy played out.

Both suspects appeared to have connections to at least some of their victims and both employed semiautomatic weapons in their attacks.

Midway through the afternoon on Monday, Corpus reported that deputies had been sent to two nurseries in the rural area south of San Francisco known as Half Moon Bay.

“Shortly thereafter three additional victims were also located deceased with gunshot wounds at a separate shooting scene,” she told reporters.

“There are people that live at the location as well… it was in the afternoon when kids were out of school and for children to witness it is unspeakable,” she said.

Zhou reportedly drove to a sheriff’s department in Half Moon Bay after that, where ABC7 crews recorded dramatic video of his arrest as he was dragged to the ground by armed officers.

“Zhao was taken into custody without incident and a semi-automatic handgun was located in his vehicle,” Corpus said.

Zhao reportedly worked at one of the farms where the dead Chinese farmworkers were reported to be.

Detectives in Monterey Park, a few hundred miles (kilometres) away, were attempting to understand why Huu Can Tran shot and killed revelers gathered at a dance studio on Saturday night for the Lunar New Year when news of the latest atrocity broke.

Robert Luna, the sheriff for Los Angeles County, claimed on Monday that Tran, who had been detained in 1994 for illegally possessing a handgun, used 42 shots in the assault.

But a lot was still unknown, he claimed.

“What drove a madman to do this? We don’t know. But we intend to find out,” he told reporters.

Luna said there was currently no proof Tran was related to any of his victims, though she acknowledged that officers had been told Tran might have known some of them.

California, which already has some of the tightest gun laws in the country, was shocked to learn that there had been a second mass shooting there in less than 48 hours.

Angry Governor Gavin Newsom referred to it as another “tragedy” after earlier Monday’s incident in Monterey Park, where he criticized the federal government’s inactivity on guns.

“At a hospital meeting with mass shooting victims when I am called aside to receive information about another shooting. Half Moon Bay, this time. Tragic upon tragic,” he wrote in a tweet.

The mass shooting on Saturday night was the worst to occur in the country since a young gunman killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May. All but two of them were minors.

On Monday, details about the perpetrator in Monterey Park started to emerge. He was a man who, based on his marriage license, had come from China and had previously been a regular at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio.

The couple first met there 20 years ago when Tran volunteered to give her informal lessons, according to his ex-wife, who spoke to CNN.

They married shortly after, according to the woman, who wished to remain unnamed, but the union was short-lived; the divorce was finalized in 2006.

She claimed that Tran, who occasionally worked as a truck driver, was not aggressive but occasionally irritable.

According to a man who claimed to have known Tran in the past, Tran would complain about dance instructors who, in his words, would say “bad things about him,” according to CNN.

The individual informed the station that he was “hostile to a number of people there.”

A weapon, electronics, and ammo were found by detectives who investigated Tran’s mobile home in Hemet, 85 miles (140 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.

Tran claimed “fraud, embezzlement, and poisoning claims involving his family in the Los Angeles area 10 to 20 years ago,” according to city police earlier this month.

The 65-year-old man’s family The catastrophe, according to my Nhan, “is still sinking in.”

According to a statement, “She spent so many years coming to the dance studio in Monterey Park on the weekends.”

It was what she cherished doing. Saturday, however, was sadly her last dance.

In the midst of the sorrow, one story of bravery has given people reason for hope. Brandon Tsay, 26, described how he wrestled with Tran as the elderly man arrived at another dancing class in what the police suspect to have been a premeditated second attack.

I was trying to use my elbows to grab the gun away from him as he was beating me across the face and on the back of my head, Tsay told ABC.

Finally, I was able to push him back, gain some distance, take the gun away from him, and aim it at him while yelling, “Get the hell out of here! ” I’ll fire. Step aside. Go.’”