HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — Less than a week after their co-workers were fatally shot, workers are back picking mushrooms at a northern California farm. They say they have practical and emotional reasons for coming back so quickly – they need to earn a living and find strength to be with people who have experienced the same trauma.

“We all feel that we need each other; we feel like the people on the farm are the ones who really get you,” said one farm worker in Half Moon Bay, who asked that her name not be used.

She and two other workers spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were injured and did not want the attention that would come to them if their names were released.

The woman recently started working at Concord Farms, one of the two farms seven people were mortally wounded On January 23, a person whom officials called a disgruntled worker. The woman recalls how she gave her two older Chinese colleagues the nicknames abuela and abuelo — Spanish for grandmother and grandfather — and developed a kinship with them despite language barriers.

The couple, Aixian Zhang, 74, and Zhisheng Liu, 73, were two of the three killed at Concord Farms, along with Marciano Farm Manager Martinez Jimenez. The husband and wife lived on a farm, the workers said.

The young woman wondered why these two were doing such hard work at their age. Although they had a hard time communicating the language — the woman spoke Spanish and the couple Chinese — they recognized each other by pointing, signing and laughing, and felt like a big family, she said. She admitted that they helped her learn to pick mushrooms using gestures and a translation app on her phone.

The woman was away from the farm’s greenhouses when the shooting happened, but returned a short time later to find their bodies on the ground.

Prosecutors say the suspect in the case, Chunli Zhao, opened fire at Terra Garden, California, located 2 miles (1.5 kilometers) from Concord Farm, after his manager demanded he pay a fine. Repair bill $100 for his loader after he was involved in an accident with a co-worker’s bulldozer.

They say Zhao caught up with his supervisor while he was talking to a co-worker who was driving a bulldozer and shot them both dead. It is said that he then fatally shot the manager’s wife, shot and killed another co-worker, and shot and wounded that co-worker’s brother.

Those killed were Qizhong Chen, Yetao Bing, Jingzhi Lu and Jose Romero Perez.

Authorities say Zhao then drove to Concord Farms, where he worked until 2015, and began filming there.

Zhao, 66, was charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. He is due in court on February 16. Eric Hove, Zhao’s attorney, did not immediately return an email seeking comment Friday.

Half Moon Bay is a small coastal community in San Mateo County, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of San Francisco, made up of rolling hills dotted with farms and beaches that attract many weekend visitors. Most of the farmers in the area are Latino, and the two mushroom farms are among the few that employ Chinese workers, rights activists say.

Workers at Concord Farms said Zhao worked there for about four years until he was fired eight years ago. Aaron Tung, the farm’s owner, did not immediately return an email Friday seeking comment.

The young woman said the slain Chinese couple often gave her eggs, chickens or vegetables to take home.

“Grandma, as well as Grandpa, were so patient with me; they would teach me, said the young woman with tears in her eyes. “They always helped me and were very nice to me.”

She said that before the tragedy on the small farm, which employs about 15 people, the work was so collegial that it felt like a family. Workers said they like working there because the owner gives them the option to leave during the workday if they have to.

“It was a really joyful place,” she said.

Workers who spoke to the AP said they have been working two to three hours a day since Tuesday, picking, cleaning, weighing and packing mushrooms because they need the money to pay their rent. They said they received a little financial help and offers of psychological support from local farmers’ advocacy organizations.

Another farmer who spoke to the AP said he was sick the day of the shooting and did not witness it. But he remembered that he had worked with Zhao before and said he was still afraid that he might be released from prison and returned to the farm.

“I try to forget what happened, but I always have this fear inside me,” he said.

The killings came shortly after San Mateo County was hit by heavy rains that put farmers out of work for days, exacerbating the difficult lives of many people who live in cramped quarters and earn just enough to pay bills and rent.

A third farmer who spoke to the AP said he and his wife were trying to get therapy for witnessing the shooting.

“It’s not easy to be there,” he said of the farm. – My wife is not feeling well. We have mixed feelings. I don’t know how to explain it, how to accept what happened.”

The man has worked on farms in Half Moon Bay for the past decade and described the hardships he and others face as they do grueling work with pay that barely covers their living expenses.

He said he makes $16 an hour and pays $1,300 for a room for himself, his wife and two children in the four-bedroom house they share with eight other people.

“We do work so others can eat, when sometimes we don’t eat and we have to struggle to complete the work,” he said.

Last week, San Mateo County Executive Ray Mueller visited the California Terra Garden shelter where some of his workers lived with their families and described it as “pathetic” and “heartbreaking.” Mueller, representing Half Moon Bay and other agri-towns, posted the photos on Twitter showing a shipping container and sheds used as houses.

David Oates, a spokesman for California Terra Garden, said Friday that employees were back on the job Monday and had access to counseling.

“They will have that access for as long as they need,” he said, adding that they will also be paid for the last week the farm was not in operation.

The farm’s owners have agreed to build new permanent homes on a separate area of ​​the farm for their employees and their families and provide them with affordable housing for the year it will take to build them, Oates said.

Officials have not said whether housing at Concord Farms was in compliance.

Belinda Hernandez, founder and executive director of the farmer advocacy group ALAS, said she hopes officials will take farmers’ plight seriously this time and make changes.

“We have been talking about this for a long time with many people. It shouldn’t be a tragedy for people to stand up and listen,” she said.

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Associated Press writer Jenny Harr contributed from San Francisco.