Authorities said on Monday that seven people had been killed in an agricultural area of northern California, the most recent killings to shake the state in recent days.
Officials reported that two fatal shootings occurred on the outskirts of Half Moon Bay, a coastal city about 30 miles south of San Francisco, near a mushroom farm and a trucking company.
Deputies responding to a complaint in Half Moon Bay discovered four dead and a fifth victim injured, then discovered three more dead at a second location nearby, according to Sheriff Christina Corpus.
“This is a devastating tragedy for this community and the many families touched by this unspeakable act of violence,” said Corpus.
Zhao Chunli, 67, has been detained by police as a suspect in connection with the shooting.
Though the relationship between the locations was not immediately obvious, the shootings are being treated as related.
The suspect worked at one of the companies, said San Mateo county board of supervisors president Dave Pine, who described him as a “disgruntled worker.”
The incident came after 11 people were killed over the weekend at a ballroom dance club in Monterey Park, a community in southern California close to Los Angeles.
According to the San Mateo county sheriff’s office, four people were found dead from gunshot wounds at the initial scene shortly after 2.30 p.m.
Soon later, police discovered three more victims dead from gunshot wounds at a different location approximately 5 miles (8 km) away, according to a news release from Capt. Eamonn Allen.
According to Allen, the office withheld any information about the relationship between the two places and the shooting’s possible motivation.
Zhao, the suspect, was located in his car at a Half Moon Bay sheriff’s station about two hours after the initial call.
A weapon was discovered in his car after he was taken into jail.
The sheriff’s office is said to believe he acted alone.
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