Cupertino Quarry Shooting Manhunt Underway
CUPERTINO – Police are still on the look out for a disgruntled employee of a Cupertino limestone quarry who walked into an early morning meeting and opened fire, killing two employees and wounding six others.
The shooter now identified as Shareef Allman had walked into a workers’ safety briefing at 4:30 a.m. PST on Wednesday at the Lehigh Southwest Cement Permanente Plant carrying a handgun and a rifle. Allman then proceeded to open fire, afterwards leaving the meeting site to wander around the quarry.
Allman, age 47, worked as a haul truck driver at the plant and is a member of the plant’s union as well as another union, the Teamster’s. He was last reported fleeing into the neighborhood near Homestead Road and Tantau Avenue after wounding a woman in an apparent carjacking, according to Santa Clara County Sherriff’s spokesman Sgt. Jose Cardoza. Cardoza added that the suspect used a weapon similar to that used at the shooting earlier. The woman is currently hospitalized with her condition unknown.
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Meanwhile, anxious family members of quarry employees have gathered near the plant seeking information on the condition of their kin. The names of and the extent of the injuries of the victims have not been released at the moment. One on the victims has been taken to the Stanford Medical Center, while another two has been taken to the Santa Clara Medical Center.
Neighbors at Allman’s home in northern San Jose describe Allman as well-liked. A single parent, Allman is an active churchgoer and has worked for nonprofit community television corporation, CreaTV San Jose.
Last year, Allman had interviewed Rev. Jesse Jackson in Oakland, Calif. In the interview, posted on Youtube.com by CreatTV San Jose, Allman appeared neatly dressed and well-composed.
Authorities are still investigating the reason behind the shooting.
