Cupertino Quarry Shooting Suspect Shot and Killed by Police
CUPERTINO, Calif. – Local report revealed that the Cupertino quarry shooting suspect Shareef Allman has been shot and killed by the police in Sunnyvale.
Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies were involved in the shooting that happened at about 7:20 a.m. PDT in Sunnyvale, according to Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Dept. spokesman Lt. Rick Sung.
At 7:48 a.m. PDT, police swarmed over the area near Lorne Way in Sunnyvale after reports of shots being fired. It is the same Sunnyvale neighborhood where police conducted searching for more than 12 hours Wednesday and overnight after the shooting spree.
Joe Lenzo, a resident who lived one block away from Lorne Way reportedly called 911 and complained about hearing gunshots. He said, "I just heard a lot of gunshots and they didn't sound like firecrackers."
Currently, all the streets around the site of shooting have been sealed off.
Investigator said, Allman, 47, opened fired on his fellow colleagues Wednesday early morning at the limestone quarry of the Lehigh Southwest Cement plant at 24001 Stevens Creek Blvd. The gunman also allegedly shot a woman as he attempted to carjack her vehicle at the nearby Hewlett-Packard campus several hours after the initial shooting.
Allman shot nine people, officials said. Six people were wounded, two were pronounced dead at the scene and a third died at an area hospital.
Pastors of several African American churches and community leaders who are friends of Allman held a press conference at the African American Community Service Agency in downtown San Jose Wednesday afternoon. They asked Allman to surrender to the authorities immediately.
“We want to say to Shareef- please if you can hear us, we are praying for you right now and we are hoping that you would just turn yourself in and bring this to an end,” Rev. Lee Wilson, senior pastor of Open Bible Faith Community Church, made his personal plea through the media.
“We don’t understand and we don’t know why, but we know that there could be a better way to end it than how it started,” he added.
The pastors also promised to help the alleged gunman turn himself in safely. “We will do whatever we can to facilitate your safe surrender,” said Dr. Tony Williams, pastor of Marantha Christian Center.
Allman was described by the African American community as a peacemaker who campaigned against domestic violence and acted as a mentor to troubled youths. Members of community expressed shocked upon hearing news of Allman’s involvement with the shooting.
Hudson Tsuei contributed to this report from Cupertino, Calif.