Computer Programmer Charged With Murdering 7 in Sunnyvale Rampage
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SAN JOSE — A computer programmer who went on a rampage when he was spurned by a one-time co-worker was charged by the Santa Clara County district attorney on Thursday with seven counts of murder.
Richard W. Farley, 39, was also charged with three counts of attempted murder arising from the bloody siege at Electromagnetic Systems Labs Inc., a defense contractor with high security in neighboring Sunnyvale where he once worked.
Farley, dressed in a red jump suit and handcuffed and shackled, was surrounded by 10 sheriff’s deputies during a brief court hearing. Santa Clara County Municipal Judge Hugh Mullins ordered that Farley be held without bail.
Recovering Thursday were the four employees injured in the attack, including Laura Black. Black, a 26-year-old electrical engineer, said she was haunted for four years by strange gifts, threatening letters and obsessive behavior from Farley, a man she never dated.
On Tuesday afternoon, Farley, armed with a repeating shotgun and other weapons, blasted his way into the building at the firm where Black worked, authorities said. Five men and two women died.
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