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Rep Anna Eshoo

Rep. Eshoo Delivers Floor Speech on Half Moon Bay Tragedy

January 27, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (CA-16) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor after devastating shootings in Half Moon Bay claimed seven lives on January 23rd.

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Mr. Speaker, I seek recognition to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in my Congressional District in the community of Half Moon Bay on Monday of this week.

Seven lives, my colleagues. Seven precious lives. Farmworkers, in a community that is as all-American as can be. About eleven thousand people; it's a bucolic community, on the magnificent California coastside. It is known for its pumpkin festival, it's known for its Maverick competition in terms of surfers, but it's also for over a century been known for its floriculture and its agriculture.

And so it was on Monday that one individual went to a nursery, actually where he worked. He knew exactly who he was pursuing. It was intentional, it was targeted, it was execution. And children witnessed this. He left that site, drove about a mile and a half to Highway 1, which is the scenic highway with the Pacific on one side, the community on the other, and murdered three others.

The first three weeks of this new year, 39 mass shootings in the United States of America. We always come to the floor – thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers. My thoughts are, I don't think we're safe anywhere, anymore. Churches, schools, community centers, now at nurseries where agricultural workers work, dance rooms, restaurants, schools. I believe, sincerely, number one, in prayer. And so my prayer today is that there will be a collective examination of conscience in the Congress, because we have a responsibility in this. We all do, regardless of party. This is a matter of conscience. It's a moral issue. When the number one cause of death of children in our nation is from gun violence, we have to stop and examine our conscience. We say "home of the brave, land of the free" – my prayer today is that we will be the home of the safe.

These are those whose lives were taken on Monday:

Zhishen Liu, 73 years old.

Aixiang Zhang, 74 years old.

Qizhong Cheng, 66 years old.

Jingzhi Lu, 64 years old.

Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50 years old.

Yetao Bing, 43 years old.

Jose Romero Perez, 38 years old.

God rest them.

Thank you everybody. Thank you.