Half Moon Bay marks 2-years since mass shooting

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - Flowers and a banner placed in the plaza across from the Half Moon Bay City Hall Thursday commemorated the two-year anniversary of the mass shooting at two local farms.

Sandra Sencion, ALAS Farmworker program director, said she called the families of every victim Thursday.

"We checked in with one of the daughters who lost both of her parents at one of these farms," Sencion said. "Checking in, letting them know we are with them, thinking of them."

ALAS is also holding a news conference at 11 a.m. Friday and a candlelight vigil at 6 p.m. Friday.

Many people still have painful memories, remembering the day, Jan. 23, 2023, when the seven farmworkers were gunned down at the Concord Farms and California Terra Garden sites by their co-worker.

"There were Hispanic people involved. The people killed, they had family here. It was a huge shock that was felt here in the community," Artemio Figueroa, a community member, said in Spanish. "The people killed, they had family here. It was a huge shock that was felt here in the community."

"It wasn't until this tragedy that it really shifted the narrative for the whole coastline to say, we need to do something," Belinda Hernandez Arriaga, founder of ALAS said, noting there have been changes in the past two years.

Community social service nonprofits are trying to provide mental health services to the families of the victims and other farmworkers in the area.

There is also construction of new affordable housing at 880 Stone Pine Road in Half Moon Bay.

Julissa Acosta, who is an analyst with the City of Half Moon Bay Community Services, says there were 19 families displaced by the tragedy. At least 28 of the 47 units in the new development will be reserved for the victims' families and farmworkers.

The city also set up displays on Thursday, showing the public three possible designs for a memorial, and getting public input.

The design committee includes a survivor of the shooting, and the hope is to create a memorial site at Kitty Fernandez Park blocks away from City Hall, honoring the Mexican heritage of two victims and the Chinese heritage of five victims.

Officials say Zhishen Liu, 73, and his wife, Aixiang Zhang, 74, of San Francisco; Qizhong Cheng, 66, and his wife Jingzhi Lu, 64, of Half Moon Bay; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach; Yetao Bing, 43, and Jose Romero Perez, 38, were all victims of the shooting. 

"The victims will always be remembered in a very special way," Figueroa said.

"I hope that they know that they're loved and their lives are honored," Acosta said.

Acosta says the city hopes to have the affordable housing and selection of the memorial design completed by this spring.