CNN
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A series of shootings in three states has left 24 people dead for several harrowing days as more cities join a growing list of American communities scarred by gun violence.
“It’s only in America that we see this kind of carnage, this kind of chaos, this kind of disruption of communities and lives and trust and a sense of safety and belonging,” the California Governor Gavin Newsom after his state suffered three mass shootings in about 44 hours.
Forty mass shootings have been recorded in the United States so far in 2023 – more than at this point in any year on record, according to Gun Violence Archive.
Newsom was still visiting victims of the Monterey Park shooting Saturday night that left 11 people dead when he learned of a second shooting Monday afternoon in Half Moon Bay, which officials later described as an “act workplace violence” that left seven people dead and one person dead. injured.
“I was worried two days ago that Monterey Park would give way to more headlines. I had no idea I would be here,” Newsom said, speaking from Half Moon Bay. “Meanwhile, the trauma and the damage of devastation is felt for generations in some cases – communities are torn apart, no one feels safe.”
The mayor of Monterey Park, still reeling from the attack in his city, offered his condolences to mourners in Half Moon Bay. “I know what awaits them in the next few days,” Mayor Henry Lo said.
Hours after the Half Moon Bay shooting, five people were shot dead, including an 18-year-old boy who died Monday in Oakland, California.
Also on Monday, a Des Moines, Iowa man opened fire on a building that houses an educational program for at-risk youth, killing two students and seriously injuring the program’s founder, police said.
Then, early Tuesday, a man shot and killed three people in or near a Circle K convenience store in Yakima, Wash., police said.
These are just some of the communities in mourning following recent acts of gun violence, including mass shootings in which four or more people were shot, not including a shooter.
Here are the latest key developments:
• In Half Moon Bay, the suspect was placed on a temporary restraining order after a former co-worker and roommate accused him of assaulting and threatening him in 2013, according to court records obtained by CNN. The 66-year-old man, arrested on Monday, has been charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. The kill counts all include buffs for the use of a firearm, serious bodily injury, and multiple kills.
He is expected to enter a plea at a hearing on February 16.
• In Monterey Park, the 11 people killed have been identified. They were all in their late 50s to mid-70s.
• In Yakimathe suspect was found dead on Tuesday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
• In Monksa shooting suspect was arrested and charged with murder.
Investigators and federal agents in charge of the various cases search for firearms, sign search warrants, review the backgrounds of suspects and search for motives.
Here are more details on some of the most recent major shootings.
The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office identified six of the slain victims as Yetao Bing, 43; Qizhong Cheng, 66 years old; Marciano Martinez Jiménez, 50 years old; Aixiang Zhang, 74; Jingzhi Lu, 64 years old; and Zhishen Liu, 73.
The seventh victim has been tentatively identified, but the office is withholding the name pending positive identification and next of kin notification.
Four people were shot dead at a mushroom farm, where the suspect was an employee, and three others were killed at a nearby farm, authorities said.
“All the evidence we have points to this being a case of workplace violence,” San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said Tuesday, adding that the victims were either Asian or Hispanic.
LIVE UPDATES: Latest news on the set of Half Moon Bay
The suspect – identified as Chunli Zhao – was a “colleague or former colleague” of the victims at each shooting site, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect, who was not known to local law enforcement before the shooting, had a semi-automatic weapon registered to him, the sheriff told CNN on Tuesday.
The suspect had been charged with attempting to suffocate and threatening to kill a former coworker at another job nearly a decade ago, according to court records obtained by CNN, which show he did the subject to a temporary restraining order after a former colleague and roommate accused him. of assaulting and threatening him in 2013.
All of the victims were of Asian or Hispanic descent, Corpus said. At least two of those killed were Mexican nationals, as was the injured survivor, the Mexican consulate in San Francisco said.
Authorities still don’t know what prompted Saturday night’s shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, as the city’s majority Asian community celebrated Lunar New Year.
Investigators served a search warrant at the home of the alleged shooter – 72-year-old Huu Can Tran – and found ‘hundreds of rounds’ of ammunition along with evidence leading officials to believe he ‘manufactured suppressors homemade firearms,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
The shooter fired 42 rounds from a semi-automatic handgun in the dance hall before heading to a second dance studio near the Alhambra, where a civilian charged at him and snatched the gun from him , said Luna.
Eleven people died and several others were injured.
The victims were identified by the coroner’s office as follows: Xiujuan Yu, 57; Hongying Jian, 62 years old; Lilan Li, 63; Mymy Nhan, 65; Muoi Dai Ung, 67; and Diana Man Ling Tom, 70; ; Valentino Marcos Alvero, 68 years old. ; Ming Wei Ma, 72; Yu-Lun Kao, 72; and Chia Ling Yau, 76.
Less than a day after the shooting, Tran was found dead in a white van about 30 miles from Torrance. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the sheriff said.
The suspect knew the dance hall, but it’s unclear if he knew any of those killed, authorities said.
In Yakima, a man walked into a Circle K early Tuesday and opened fire, killing two people inside, then walked out of the store and shot and killed a third person, police chief Matt Murray said. .
Police were eventually directed to the suspect’s location on Tuesday after receiving a call from a Yakima woman who loaned the suspect her phone and heard him make ‘several incriminating statements, including ‘I killed these people. “,” Murray said at a press conference.
Police responded and later announced that the suspect died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Earlier, police identified the “alleged homicide suspect” as 21-year-old Jarid Haddock.
The motive for the shooting was under investigation, but Murray said the attack appeared “very random”.
Up to 50 people were filming a video clip when “gunfire erupted from multiple shooters in various directions” Monday night in Oakland, the city’s acting police chief said.
Officers received an alert via gunshot detection technology and responded to find “a few bullet casings” but no casualties. They later learned that gunshot victims showed up at several area hospitals, acting chief Darren Allison said.
Five people were shot, including an 18-year-old man who died. A driver and passengers were also injured when they crashed while fleeing the scene, Allison said.
It was a “targeted shooting”, and investigators are “looking into the possibility of a gang or group connection to this incident”, he said.
On Monday afternoon, Des Moines Police and Fire Department responded to a report of a shooting at an educational program for at-risk youth.
They found three gunshot victims, who were taken to hospital. Two students, ages 18 and 16, died and the program founder was hospitalized in serious condition, authorities said.
One suspect, Preston Walls, 18, has been charged with two counts of first degree murder, attempted murder and involvement in a criminal gang, police said. CNN was unable to determine if he had an attorney.
“There is nothing random about it. It was definitely a targeted incident,” the Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek spoke about the shooting. “But in terms of getting a motive, that’s something we’re going to try to figure out.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Lilan Li’s first name.
