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The latest from AP:
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — A man believed to be the disgruntled employee accused of opening fire on his co-workers at a California limestone quarry was shot and killed by deputies Thursday, authorities said.
Three deputies on routine patrol in a Sunnyvale neighborhood encountered the man matching Shareef Allman’s description around 7:30 a.m., Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said. He was crouched behind a vehicle in the driveway of a home.
The deputies opened fire after the man “displayed in a threatening manner his firearm,” Smith said.
Investigators believe the man is Allman, but the coroner will have to confirm the identity, she said. Read full article
Update 3:35 p.m. From AP: Friend says Calif quarry suspect showed off AK-47
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP) — A close friend of the employee accused in a deadly California quarry shooting says the suspect showed off an assault rifle over the weekend and said he would use it at work.
Twenty-year-old Brandon Powell tells The Associated Press that Shareef Allman visited him Saturday at his Sacramento home and showed him a newly purchased AK-47.
When Powell asked what the gun was for, Allman said there were racist people at work who were “messing” with him, then laughed.
Powell says he thought Allman was joking. Many of Allman’s friends have described him as a devoted father and community volunteer never known to be violent.
Authorities say Allman fatally shot three co-workers and wounded six others Wednesday during a work meeting in Cupertino.
They haven’t discussed a specific motive, other than to say the suspect was disgruntled.
Update 3:30 p.m. The Merc is reporting the following:
Valeri Allman obtained a restraining order against Shareef Allman 20 years ago. She alleged her husband had assaulted her on several occasions during their marriage, which lasted about three years. On one occasion, she said he hit her in the head with a lamp, knocking her out.
Update 12:45 p.m. Chilling article from the Merc today in which one of Allman’s shooting victims at the quarry recounts the attack. Mike Ambrosio, who says he played dead during the rampage after being shot in the arm, paints a portrait of Allman as a disgruntled, poor performer on the job:
“He thought everybody was after him,” Ambrosio said in an exclusive interview Wednesday afternoon with the Mercury News. “He wasn’t thinking no more.”
Ambrosio, a union leader and truck driver who has worked for 16 years at Lehigh Hanson’s Permanente Cement Plant in Cupertino, recounted the five- to eight-minute predawn rampage that left three of his co-workers dead, including a cousin whom he had helped get the job, and five injured.
“You guys want to (expletive) with me? You want to (expletive) with me?” Ambrosio recalled Allman angrily saying as he shot his co-workers.
“Everyone was jumping under the table. Some sitting at the table were shot in the stomach,” Ambrosio recalled….
Lying under the table, Ambrosio covered his face with his bleeding arm and pretended he was dead. When the gunfire stopped, Allman stooped to look under the table “to make sure I was dead,” Ambrosio said….
Allman had worked at the plant for 15 years. While he was respected by his wide circle of friends in San Jose’s African-American community, he had a poor performance record at the company, Ambrosio said. Allman felt as though the company, and some of his co-workers, were out to get him, Ambrosio said. Two weeks earlier, Allman had refused to pose for a photo with his colleagues at the plant, saying, “I don’t want to take my picture with back stabbers.”
Before the shooting began Wednesday, a supervisor was leading the weekly meeting, which included a discussion about rescheduling a farewell party for another employee. Allman piped up, Ambrosio said: “If we ain’t gonna have no party, give me my $10 back.” Then Allman “pulled out the gun and started.”
Ambrosio, who is the union shop steward, also says that he told Allman less than a week ago that that he was going to stop representing him to management because of numerous safety violations.