HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — At least 19 people have died in less than three days in a series of statewide shootings, from farmworker communities near San Francisco to the outskirts of Los Angeles.

The attacks have presented a new challenge for beleaguered Californians who are just beginning to recover from weeks of severe storms that have flooded their homes and destroyed piers and levees. Even in the vast provinces, most people felt anguish wherever they lived.

said Galen J. Wintemte, M.D., an emergency room physician who directs the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis Medical Center.

In Northern California, a 66-year-old man was taken into custody after seven people were shot dead near Half Moon Bay on Monday. Half Moon Bay is a coastal community known for its small fog-covered farms and annual pumpkin festival. An official with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said the suspect, Cho Chun-Li, was employed at one of his farms that he attacked, likely due to workplace dissatisfaction.

Southern California continues to investigate the motives behind the massacre Saturday night that left 11 dead and nine injured at a ballroom dance hall in Asian-American enclave Monterey Park.Suspect — Huu Can Tran, 72, ex-volunteer dance instructor, officials say may have been driven Personal hostility led to his suicide on Sunday when police approached his white van.

But those tragedies were just two in a string of mass shootings this month. Lowest death rate from gun violence, and some of its toughest gun laws. Last week, in an attack that authorities likened to drug cartel-style executions, 6 people were shot Including a 16-year-old girl and a 10-month-old baby in rural Tulare County, California’s Central Valley.One person died and seven others were injured Monday night. Auckland shootout.

California Governor Gavin Newsom visited Half Moon Bay on Tuesday, about 24 hours after trying to comfort injured victims in Monterey Park. Newsom said he was in the hospital when he learned of the Bay shooting.

“I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to be here,” Mr. Newsom said, taking a note out of his pocket. San Jose Transit Yard, Gilroy’s Garlic Festival and Cowboy-themed bar in Thousand Oaks.

“I started writing ‘Monterey Park.’ Now I have to write ‘Bay of the Half Moon.’ what is going on here? he asked. “It’s been said and always said. Only in America.”

There is renewed talk in Washington of pursuing new gun control, including legislation introduced by California Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein to reinstate an assault rifle ban that expired nearly two decades ago. bottom.

But the shootings in California have once again brought the political realities of the Capitol to the fore. Even after the string of massacres that rocked the country, Congress is unlikely to garner a bipartisan consensus to enact additional gun control measures.

President Biden said he is “thinking about a lot of things we can and will do” to work with California leaders to address gun violence.

“I’m asking you guys to get it to my desk as soon as possible,” said Biden, even though he knew it had little chance of passing Congress.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters Tuesday night that his home state of California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. He also said he would not enact new gun laws until he had more information about the shootings at the Moon He Bay and Monterey Parks.

California has the lowest gun death rate in the nation, at 8.5 per 100,000 in 2020 and 13.7 per 100,000 nationally. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Reported.Recent California Public Policy Institute analysis Californians were found to be about 25% less likely to die in a mass shooting than residents of other states.

But those odds were cold consolation on Tuesday as communities affected by the recent shootings sought answers.

A city of about 12,000 people, Half Moon Bay remains isolated enough to maintain the small-town feel that has disappeared elsewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. Residents struggled to understand how the ongoing wave of violence reached parts of the Pacific coast. Mr. Pancho, 62, the owner of a convenience store that sells tortillas, beer and spices, thought aloud that the world had turned into a “cuckoo.”

Fatima Machado, who worked at the parish office of Our Lady of the Pillars, said the town looked unusually empty and the roads were almost empty. She thought people were staying home after the shock of the shooting.

“It’s so surreal that this happened in our small town,” Machado, 70, said. “You see it on the news. Monterey he’s Park, Oakland — but those are big places. Half he’s Moon he’s not Bay.”

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaff, which includes Half Moon Bay, said the scope of the investigation was: Even jurisdictions in the heart of Silicon Valley have posed challenges. “We’ve never had a case like this in this county,” he said.

The sheriff’s office continued work on Tuesday to identify victims and notify their families, but the process was complicated by the fact that some of the victims were immigrants, according to Sheriff Christina Corpus. The victims were all adults, some of whom lived with children at the scene of the shooting.

“It was an afternoon when the kids were out of school,” she said. “It is indescribable for children to witness this.”

San Mateo County officials said the Half Moon Bay shooting suspect, who is scheduled to be formally charged on Wednesday, lived in the community and may have worked with some of the victims. He said he legally purchased the semi-automatic pistol used in the incident. photograph.

A Sheriff’s Department spokesman added that “there were no specific signs” in the suspect’s criminal history, adding, “It made us believe he was capable of doing things like this.” I will,” he added.

However, in court documents filed in 2013 seeking a temporary restraining order, the roommate allegedly split Chow’s head with a knife after a workplace altercation in which he quit his restaurant job. Chao was accused of threatening and attempting to suffocate. and could not get it back.

In a petition for the order awarded by a Santa Clara County judge, Jingjiu Wang wrote that Zhao snuck into his room in a shared San Jose apartment in March 2013 and demanded his salary. When Mr. Wang could not produce it, he said: Zhao told me, I’m going to kill you today.” Then attacked him and tried to smother him with a pillow. He threatened to have a knife implanted in his skull if he didn’t get his job back at the restaurant.

In Los Angeles County, investigators said a Monterey Park gunman legally purchased the semi-automatic rifle used in the massacre, as did the Half Moon Bay suspect. Two law enforcement officials briefed on the matter, who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the investigation, said Mr. Tran was a major criminal in the 1990s, before California began serializing. I had purchased a MAC-10 with a capacity magazine. of the ban on such rapid-fire weapons.

Officials said they were still trying to ascertain whether any modifications had been made to make it illegal to own the gun when it was fired. Detectives also seized two other firearms during the investigation. Police say the handgun Tran shot himself when pursuing officers approached him after a search across the area, and the rifle was found at his home in Hemet, California, in a trailer. was done. park.

In Southern California, officials have released the names of 11 people killed in Saturday night’s shooting as families mourn the deaths of beloved parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office, which has spelled the victim’s name differently at various points this week, identified the six women as Diana Man-Lynn Thom, 70, on Tuesday. Muoi Dai Un, 67 years old. Mai Mai Nan, 65 years old. Lillian Lee, 63 years old. Hongying Jian, 62 years old. The five men were identified as her 76-year-old Chia Ling Yau. Ming Wei Ma, 72 years old. Yu Lun Kao, 72 years old. Valentino Marcos Alvero, 68 years old. Wen Tau Yu, 64 years old.

New details emerged on Tuesday, and it was heartbreaking and terrifying.

Shortly after 10pm on Saturday, 65-year-old Nan and her dance partner that night, an elderly man, decided to end their Lunar New Year celebrations at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio a little early.

Mr. Nyan was driving a car and started to back up when he noticed a figure walking behind the car. She hit the brakes to allow the person to continue running. Within seconds, the exchange turned disastrous.

In a quiet parking lot, the man (later identified as a gunman by authorities) approached the driver’s side window and shot Nan several times. His Ms. Nhan, known as Mymy, was the first to be shot during the rampage. Her fellow passengers managed to escape unscathed and told her relatives of Nyan’s final moments.

Nyang was drawn to any activity she considered part of a healthy lifestyle, like ballroom dancing, especially salsas and waltzes, said her niece Fonda Kuan, who said that Nang was the daughter of her late mother. He also added that he was taken care of. over a month ago.

After weeks of grieving, she said: And unfortunately this happened. ”

Victoria Kim Contributing to reporting from Monterey Park, Tim Arango, Jill Cowan When Livia Albek-Lipka Annabelle Sosa and Eileen Benedict from Los Angeles, Half Moon Bay. The report was also contributed by: Edgar Sandoval, peter baker, Annie Kurni, Ann Lee When Mui Xiao. Susan C. Beachy When Kitty Bennett Contributed to research.