Richard Farley - Shooting at ESL

Shooting At ESL

Black filed for a temporary restraining order against Farley on February 2, 1988 and it was granted by a family court judge. A court date was set for February 17, 1988 to see if the restraining order should be made permanent.

Farley purchased a shotgun along with various other weapons and equipment. Numerous pistols were also at his disposal along with a total of over 3,000 rounds of extra ammunition. The restraining order did not prevent him from buying weapons during that time. He also owned a variety of other weapons which were not present during the shooting at ESL, including a Mossberg shotgun barrel and a Ruger .22LR carbine. On February 9, 1988, he left a package with Black's attorney, claiming to have evidence that he and Black had a longstanding relationship. The package included items such as photographs purportedly showing Black and Farley on dates, a garage door opener to Black's house, and hotel and credit card receipts. Farley even claimed that Black kept a secret stash of cocaine that they shared once. Black's attorney dismissed the package as utter fabrications.

On the day before the court date, February 16, 1988, Farley drove his motorhome to the ESL parking lot in Sunnyvale, California. He later claimed he waited for Black to leave work so he could convince her to rescind the restraining order. If she refused, he would kill himself. At about 3 p.m., Farley loaded up his various guns, including a 12-gauge Benelli Riot semi-automatic shotgun, a Ruger M-77 .22-250 rifle with a scope, a Mossberg 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a Sentinel .22 WMR revolver, a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, a Browning .380 ACP pistol, and a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol. Along with having a foot-long buck knife and smoke bomb, he put on an ammunition vest, inserted earplugs, and put on a leather glove.

Carrying over 1000 rounds of ammunition with him, he then approached the building while shooting toward bystanders. He entered into a side door by shooting through the glass, and shot at employees he encountered while heading toward Black's office on the second floor. Several employees were killed by his shots as he made his way through his former employer's building. Arriving at Black's office, he opened her door which she slammed in his face. He fired one shot through the door, which missed Black. The second shot hit her in the left shoulder and sent her unconscious to the floor. Farley moved on.

Farley then held police SWAT team at bay for five hours by moving from room to room so the SWAT snipers could not target him. Meanwhile, Black regained consciousness and managed to stop her wound from further bleeding while she and other survivors hid from Farley. Eventually Black and other survivors escaped, and Farley surrendered to police after requesting a sandwich and a soft drink from Togo's. A total of seven people were killed by Farley with four more wounded, including Black. A total of 98 rounds were fired in ESL by Farley.

The seven victims were Lawrence J. Kane, 46, from San Jose; Wayne "Buddy" Williams Jr., 23, from San Jose; Ronald G. Doney, 36, from Manteca; Joseph Lawrence Silva, 43, Glenda Moritz, 27, Ronald Steven Reed, 26, and Helen Lamparter, 49, from Sunnyvale. The injured were Laura Black, Gregory Scott, Richard Townsley and Patty Marcott.