In lawsuit, family of Half Moon Bay shooting victims accuses farm owner of negligence

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (CN) — The family of a man killed in a shooting in Half Moon Bay in 2023 is suing the owner of a California mushroom farm where the shooting began, accusing him of not doing enough to protect workers.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the family accused Xianmin Guan — owner of the California Terra Garden farm — of having "failed to take reasonable steps to protect their tenants from violent acts of third parties."

Painting a picture of negligence and exploitation at the farm, they also quoted San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Muller, who — upon inspecting the farm after the shooting — described "horrific" and "deplorable" living conditions with "no insulation" and "no running water."

The lawsuit comes following a pair of shootings at two mushroom farms in the small agricultural enclave about 30 miles south of San Francisco.

The family of victim Jose Romero Perez said the accused shooter, Chunli Zhao, had a documented history of violence. They also noted there had been another shooting on the property less than a year earlier. 

Zhao, who worked at the farms, is accused of killing four workers and injuring a fifth at California Terra Garden before killing three more workers at a farm a few miles away. Perez died in the shooting. His brother, Pedro Felix Romero Perez, was also shot five times but ultimately lived.

In a news conference on Friday, attorneys for the family said that California Terra Garden had no plan in place to protect workers from violence. They said that like other farmworkers, the two Perez brothers lived in homes with plywood floors, walls covered in plastic and makeshift wood-burning stoves.

“The farm was not only unhealthy; it was also unsafe,” the family said in their lawsuit. They also described another incident from July 2022, in which a manager at the farm tried to break into a trailer at the farm before shooting into it. "Although nobody was hit, the bullet penetrated through the victim’s trailer and the occupied trailer next door."

Zhao, the man authorities say was behind the deadly 2023 shooting, had a violent history, according to the lawsuit. In 2013, the family said, he was accused of threatening to split a coworker’s head open with a knife and trying to suffocate the man with a pillow.

After those incidents, they said Zhao purchased a handgun, which they said he later used “to seek vengeance upon other people against whom he held longstanding personal grudges.” They said Guan, the farm owner, knew of Zhao’s character but failed to take reasonable steps to protect other workers. (California Terra Garden could not be reached for comment.)

According to the family, the deadly shooting was part of pattern of disregard for worker safety and well-being at the farm.

"California Terra Gardens profits off the backs of migrant workers like Pedro and Jose, who persevered in the face of unimaginable working and living conditions," attorney Nabilah Hossain said. "Instead of protecting them like the essential workers, California Terra Gardens failed to safeguard them from numerous dangers."

Zhao, 67, has maintained his innocence in the shootings. In February, he entered another not guilty plea after waiving his right to a speedy trial on the charges. He is currently being held without bail.

Stephen Wagstaffe, the San Mateo County district attorney, declined to comment, citing the ongoing case. Prosecutors will return to court later this month ahead of a pretrial conference.

The tragic shooting was the worst in the history of San Mateo County, officials have said, as well as the third mass shooting in California in the span of just eight days.

In June 2023, California’s Department of Industrial Relations cited Terra Garden for 22 violations — including lacking a plan to immediately notify employees of an active shooter threat and instruct them to seek shelter. The total proposed penalties totaled $113,800.

Concord Farms — the second location of the shooting — was also cited for 19 violations, with penalties estimated at $51,770. Among the violations: failure to address previous incidents of workplace violence or develop procedures to prevent violence. Both farms were also cited for failing to secure permits for on-site worker housing. 

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