By Bay City News.
US Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, spoke on the House floor Friday about the mass shootings in Half Moon Bay, where seven people were killed earlier in the week.
The seven victims who died in the shootings on Monday have been identified as Zhishen Liu, 73, Aixiang Zhang, 74, Qizhong Cheng, 66, Jingzhi Lu, 64, Marciano Martínez Jiménez, 50, Yetao Bing, of 43 and José Romero Pérez, 38. A co-worker at one of the farms, Chunli Zhao, has been arrested and charged with the murders.
Eshoo, whose constituency includes Half Moon Bay, spoke in the House of Representatives about the coastal community being "as American as it gets."
She said: "It's a bucolic community on the magnificent California coast. It's known for its pumpkin festival, it's known for its Maverick competition in terms of surfers, but it's also known for over a century for its floriculture and agriculture."
Eshoo said the killings allegedly committed by Zhao were "intentional, it was targeted, it was an execution. And the children witnessed this."
He called on his fellow members of Congress to consider their conscience in the wake of the tragedy, one of dozens of mass shootings across the country that have already occurred in the first weeks of 2023.
"When the number one killer of children in our nation is gun violence, we have to stop and examine our conscience," Eshoo stressed. «We say ?home of the brave, land of the free?; My prayer today is that we will be the home of insurance."
A candlelight vigil is planned for Friday at 5 p.m. at Mac Dutra Plaza on Main Street in Half Moon Bay. More community commemorative events are planned next week, according to the city.
The City's CARES team is available seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. by calling 988 or (650) 713-5467 to anyone looking for mental health resources. The San Mateo County Crisis Response Team is also available to provide mental health assistance by calling (800) 686-0101.
Those interested in donating to an emergency campaign created for farmworkers affected by the recent flooding and mass shootings in Half Moon Bay can visit https://gofund.me/ff938946. The Farmworker Caravan group, which helps farmworkers in the region, had raised more than $65,000 in the campaign as of Friday afternoon.
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