Accused Half Moon Bay shooter Chunli Zhao pleads not guilty to killing 7

The disgruntled employee accused of gunning down seven California farm workers in the Half Moon Bay mass shooting last month pleaded not guilty to murder charges Thursday, according to local reports.

Chunli Zhao, 66, faces seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in connection to the deadly Jan. 23 rampage that spanned two farms.

Zhao, dressed in a red jail jumpsuit, held his head down as he entered the not-guilty plea through a Mandarin translator at the San Mateo County Hall of Justice, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The alleged gunman appeared more restrained as he sat behind glass in the courtroom than he was at his hearing last week — where he loudly sobbed in court, forcing the judge to call for a brief recess so he could collect himself, the outlet reported.

Zhao is accused of shooting five workers — four of them fatally — at the mushroom farm where he lived and worked for the last seven years.

He then continued his bloodbath at another mushroom farm across town, where he allegedly killed a former assistant manager he felt he had been wrong by, and a couple.

Authorities said Zhao carried out the deadly rampage over a $100 bill for damaged equipment.

Zhao said his boss wanted him to front the money for damage sustained to the forklift he was driving when it crashed with a co-worker’s bulldozer, who the alleged killer said was at fault.

Enraged over money, he allegedly shot the supervisor and co-worker and his co-worker’s wife before shooting two more employees at the California Terra Garden Farm.

Zhao told investigators that he was not in the right mind the day he committed the shootings.

He remains held without bail and is due back in court on May 3.