HALF MOON BAY — Elected officials, local faith leaders and community members gathered Sunday afternoon to mark the one-year anniversary this week of San Mateo County’s deadliest mass shooting.
On Jan. 23, 2023, a disgruntled employee shot and killed seven farmworkers at two mushroom farms off Highway 92 in Half Moon Bay. The shooting unveiled poor living conditions at farmworker housing. One year later, the trailers at California Terra Garden have been condemned by the county and demolished and workers vacated the housing at Concord Farms.
Speakers at the ceremony, which was held at the Boys & Girls Club Event Center, included U.S Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), state Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), Assemb. Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller and former U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, who is running for a seat on the board of supervisors.
On Sunday morning, President Joe Biden issued a statement commemorating the one-year anniversary of the shooting in Half Moon Bay, as well as one in Monterey Park, where a gunman killed 11 at a Lunar New Year celebration on Jan. 21, 2023.
Biden used the statement to reignite a call for gun control, asking Congress to “do its part.”
“It’s long past time we banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, ended immunity from liability for gun manufacturers, passed a national red flag law, enacted universal background checks and required safe storage of guns,” he said. “We cannot tackle the gun violence epidemic in America while Republicans in Congress sit on their hands.”
Another shooting that injured one occurred at farmworker housing in Half Moon Bay on Saturday night, though the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office believes it was an isolated incident.