1988 — Feb 16, Richard Wade Farley Workplace Shootings. ESL Inc., Sunnyvale, CA– 7

–7  Associated Press. “Spurned suitor kills 7, wounds 4.” Ukiah Daily Journal, 2-17-1988, p. 1.

–7  Mercury News, San Jose, CA. “ESL mass murder case heads to [CA] Supreme Court.” 4-6-2009.

 

Narrative Information

 

Feb 17, 1988: “Sunnyvale (AP) — A man reportedly fired for harassing a co-worker surrendered six hours after storming into the secretive high-tech company where she worked and killed seven employees. Four others, including the object of the gunman’s spurned affections, were wounded.

 

“Richard Wade Farley, 39, of nearby San Jose, walked backwards from the sprawling two-story ESL Inc. building at about 8:30 p.m. PST Tuesday, his hands in the air. He was quickly surrounded by three officers and taken to the Santa Clara County Jail. ‘I’m not crazy — I know I will die as a result of this,’ he told a negotiator before the surrender.

 

“Daryl Anderson, an ESL business analyst, was in her second-floor office when the gunman came down the hall shooting between 2:30 and 3 p.m. he didn’t know what was happening until shots punched through her office door. ‘I was under my desk in the fetal position for six hours,’ she said. ‘I figured there was a sniper in the building. The worst part of all was being there all by myself in the dark. All the time I thought he was right out there in the hall.’

 

“Commander Alex Michaelis of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said seven bodies — two women and five men — were found when police swept through the building after the arrest. He said four were found in second-floor rooms and hallways, two in stairwells and one outside the building. One was identified by company officials as Lawrence J. Kane of San Jose. The rest were not immediately identified….

 

“Police seized a rifle, a shotgun and 9mm and .380 -caliber handguns, along with two bandoliers of ammunition, after the gunman left his hiding place in room 1274 on the second floor.

 

“Near the ESL building, police found a motor home they believe was driven by the gunman. Inside, officers found a quantity of ammunition, full cans of gasoline and other explosive material, said Scott.” (Associated Press. “Spurned suitor kills 7, wounds 4.” Ukiah Daily Journal, 2-17-1988, p. 1.)

 

April 6, 2009: “….Sixteen years after he was sentenced to die and 21 years after the killings, Farley’s case will finally reach its first meaningful stage in the appeals process when the California Supreme Court hears arguments in Los Angeles. While Farley’s long-delayed appeal may be typical for California death row inmates, it has nevertheless become a source of considerable frustration for those whose lives were touched by an onslaught that remains a national symbol for workplace violence….

 

“Farley, now 60, was sentenced to die in 1992 for killing seven former co-workers at ESL, a defense contractor, after he draped himself with 98 pounds of guns and ammunition and went on a shooting spree inspired by his ill-fated obsession with one co-worker, Laura Black. Black, who could not be contacted for this story, was seriously wounded in the shootings, but survived and testified against Farley at trial, describing the more than three years she spent shunning Farley’s relentless advances….

 

“Since Farley’s trial, the judge and prosecutor have both retired, and ESL was acquired by another company. Building M5, the infamous site of the shootings, was torn down nearly a decade ago. But Farley’s case lives on. Even once the state Supreme Court rules in his current appeal, further rounds of state and federal appeals typically take 10 or more years to conclude, so everyone involved is far from finality….” (Mercury News, San Jose, CA. “ESL mass murder case heads to California Supreme Court.” 4-6-2009, updated 8-14-2016.

 

March 13, 2019: “Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to impose a moratorium on the death penalty in California. The order will prevent the state from putting prisoners to death by granting temporary reprieves to all 737 condemned inmates on California’s death row, the largest in the nation. Below are the men and women currently on death row….” [One was Richard Wade Farley, noting he had been on death row for 27 years and 4 months.] (Los Angeles Times/Paige St. John and Maloy Moore. “These are the 737 inmates on California’s death row.” 3-13-2019.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Spurned suitor kills 7, wounds 4.” Ukiah Daily Journal, 2-17-1988, p. 1. Accessed 6-2-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/ukiah-daily-journal-feb-17-1988-p-1/

 

Los Angeles Times/Paige St. John and Maloy Moore. “These are the 737 inmates on California’s death row.” 3-13-2019. Accessed 6-6-2019 at: https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-death-row/

 

Mercury News, San Jose, CA. “ESL mass murder case heads to California Supreme Court.” 4-6-2009, updated 8-14-2016. Accessed 6-6-2019 at: https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/04/06/esl-mass-murder-case-heads-to-california-supreme-court/