Mass Shooter Gets Trial Date In SMC Death Penalty Case: Prosecutors.

REDWOOD CITY, CA — The first death penalty case in over a decade in San Mateo County will be for the Half Moon Bay mass shooter and it now has a trial date, prosecutors said.

Chunli Zhao’s trial date, the Peninsula resident accused of the county's deadliest mass shooting on record, has been set for Jan. 25, 2027.

On January 23, 2023, a shooting in Half Moon Bay, California, resulted in seven deaths and one critical injury across two nearby farms. Zhao was apprehended after parking outside the downtown sheriff's substation.

Zhao had both lived and worked at the first shooting location, California Terra Garden, formerly Mountain Mushroom Farm, and had previously been employed at the second location, Concord Farms.

Defense attorneys notified the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office that they would not be ready for trial until the next year, despite prosecutors requesting a jury trial for September.

This is the first case in which San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has pursued the death penalty since taking office in 2011.