Mass shooter suspect Chunli Zhao once tried to suffocate former co-worker with pillow: report

The accused Half Moon Bay shooter who allegedly gunned down seven farm workers — in what authorities called a workplace violence rampage — years earlier reportedly tried to suffocate a co-worker.

Mass shooting suspect Chunli Zhao in 2013 was accused of trying to kill his roommate — angry the man didn’t have checks from a job Zhao had quit days earlier, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing Santa Clara County court documents.

Zhao allegedly threatened roommate Jingjiu Wang and tried to suffocate him with a pillow after sneaking into his room, court docs state.

“Mr. Zhao said to me, today I am going to kill you,” Wang reportedly wrote. “He then took a pillow and started to cover my face and suffocate me.”

Wang fended off the attack by using “all my might,” according to the restraining order application, the Chronicle reported.

Zhao, 66, was arrested Monday after he allegedly fatally shot seven people at two mushroom farms in the small coastal city of Half Moon Bay. He allegedly killed four people and wounded one at Mountain Mushroom Farm — and then fatally shot three others at another mushroom farm several miles away.

The two farms had hired Zhao before he carried out his deadly attack, authorities said.

The deadly rampage was the third mass shooting in California this month, unfolding just days after 11 people were gunned down in a Monterey Park ballroom shooting.

Evidence indicated the shooting was the result of a likely workplace violence incident, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said. Zhao was arrested after he parked his car at a sheriff’s substation, where deputies pulled him from his car.

A semi-automatic gun used in the fatal shootings was legally bought and owned, San Mateo Sheriff Christina Corpus said, according to ABC 7.

Some of the victims were Asian and other were Hispanic, and some were migrant workers, authorities said.

“For the second time in recent days, California communities are mourning the loss of loved ones in a senseless act of gun violence,” President Biden said Tuesday.

“Even as we await further details on these shootings, we know the scourge of gun violence across America requires stronger action.”

Zhao’s erratic behavior in 2013 also involved threatening Wang with a knife — days after the attempted suffocation. Zhao allegedly asked Wang for his restaurant job back, the court document reportedly states.

“If this can’t be done, this would be a bigger problem, which will not be good/pleasant for everyone. This seemed to be a threat to me and the restaurant I work at,” Wang wrote, the Chronicle reported.

“Mr. Zhao said he would use a kitchen knife to split my head,” he additionally alleged in the court document.

It’s unclear if Wang was a manager at the restaurant where Zhao previously worked. The request was granted by the judge but has since expired, the Chronicle reported. 

With Post wires