The man accused of fatally gunning down seven people and wounding an eighth in dual workplace massacres across the popular tourist community of Half Moon Bay threatened to suffocate and use a knife to split open the head of a South Bay restaurant co-worker a decade ago, court records obtained Tuesday by the Bay Area News Group show.
Chunli Zhao, the 66-year-old shooting suspect, made those threats in March 2013 after quitting his restaurant job, according to a civil harassment restraining order his former roommate and co-worker filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
In a sworn court declaration, the roommate said Zhao “took a pillow and started to cover my face and suffocate me” after being told he’d have to go to the restaurant to pick up his final paycheck. Zhao, in response, “said to me, today I am going to kill you,” according to the court petition.
