Just more than a year after losing his brother and nearly losing his own life in a mass shooting that spanned two Half Moon Bay farms, one survivor says he is seeking justice for himself, his broth…
The site where structures once stood, including where mass shooting suspect Chunli Zhao, 66, allegedly lived, seen from this drone view at Mountain Mushroom Farms in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. HALF MOON BAY — Just more than a year after losing his brother and nearly losing his own life in a mass shooting that spanned two Half Moon Bay farms, one survivor says he is seeking justice for himself, his brother and family, and farmworkers across the nation.
The shooting has left Pedro, who survived five gunshot wounds to the face, stomach and arm, with debilitating pain, preventing him from working for more than a year. Pedro declined to talk about the day of the shooting but said he thinks of his brother daily. Beyond detailing the “deplorable” living conditions — where farmworkers slept in trailers with plywood floors and heated food on makeshift wood-burning stoves — the lawsuit also alleges that Xianmin Guan, the owner, took no action to secure the farm, despite knowing of Zhao’s violent history, as well as a shooting at the farm just a few months earlier.
“Everyone has a right to feel safe in their home in the state of California, and Jose Perez and Pedro Perez had their rights violated on Jan. 23, 2023 by California Terra Garden where they were living,” said Duffy Magilligan, an attorney representing Pedro. “Not only did California Terra Garden violate those rights by providing squalid living conditions for the farmworkers but they violated those right by not providing a place where their tenants felt safe.
Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, the executive director of ALAS and a mental health provider, said the extent of squalor people were living in was often hidden from nonprofit staff, not to mention local officials. Given the housing shortage and high cost of rent, red-tagging the units would have left many homeless, she added.
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