Identifying the bodies and planning funerals for the immigrants who died in the Half Moon Bay shootings has become an international effort as foreign officials track down the victims’ families in China and Mexico.
Consulates of both countries confirmed as much to The Standard on Wednesday.
San Francisco’s Consulate General of Mexico said two Mexican nationals died in Monday’s shootings and another is hospitalized.
San Francisco’s Chinese consulate told The Standard that families of the Chinese nationals slain in the massacre have already been notified.
“We are now working with local law enforcement and have been in contact with victims’ families in China,” the consulate said.
San Mateo County’s Coroner's Office identified six of the victims on Wednesday, and five of the names, Zhishen Liu, Qizhong Cheng, Yetao Bing, Aixiang Zhang, Jingzhi Lu, appear to be Chinese pinyin spelling. It’s unclear how many victims were from China or Chinese nationals.
Both Mexico and China will provide visa and travel assistance to the bereaved families.
The suspect shooter, Zhao Chunli, 66, is a Chinese immigrant and a Mandarin speaker, and it's reported that he’s a Chinese citizen with a work visa in the U.S. He’s set to be arraigned today on a slew of murder charges in San Mateo County.
The back-to-back shootings at two mushroom farms that left seven dead and another wounded shocked the nation and many immigrants.
As the second mass shooting by suspects of Asian descent after the Monterey Park massacre, it also shook the AAPI community.