Details are beginning to emerge about the alleged murderer who carried out a deadly shooting at a San Francisco UPS processing facility that claimed the lives of four people Wednesday, including the shooter.
According to SF Gate, “[t]he San Francisco Police Department identified the shooter as Jimmy Lam, 38, of San Francisco.” Emerging accounts describe him as as a disturbed, isolated man who was obsessed with his job.
Lam, who allegedly killed three of his co-workers in a shooting rampage that started just before 9am Wednesday, was described by many of his neighbors as anti-social.
None of the neighbors interviewed by SF Gate reporters had ever spoken to Lam, who was often seen “walking around in a company uniform, looking at his phone and smoking a cigarette.”
ABC News reports, via the Associated Press, that “[t]he gunman, Jimmy Lam, filed [a] grievance in March complaining that he was working excessive overtime, Joseph Cilia, an official with a Teamsters Union local that represents UPS workers in San Francisco, told The Associated Press.”
Cilia added, according to the AP, that “Lam wasn’t angry, and he could not understand why he would open fire on fellow drivers at a morning meeting. Cilia says witnesses told him Lam appeared to specifically go for the drivers who died, chasing at least one of them out of the building.”
A Reuters story confirms that the troubled man died much like he lived: alone.
Authorities could not offer a possible motive for the violence but ruled out terrorism.
Known for having some of the toughest gun laws in the country, including a high capacity magazine ban, San Francisco officials made no comment on how Lam came to possess what police characterize as an “assault pistol,” and whether it was legally purchased.
It was not immediately clear how many employees were at the facility, but UPS said the warehouse employs 350 people. The shooter and all the victims were all reportedly employees.
Police raided Lam’s Richmond home, according to news accounts, and carried off “what appeared to be a computer, several bags of evidence and a file box.” They also towed away his 2012 BMW coupe.
In all, according to a press conference by police Wednesday afternoon, 6 people were shot, 4 deceased (including Lam), 2 wounded by gunfire, and 5 others sustained various injuries.
Tragically, the drivers who were shot appears to have been targeted, witnesses told police, according to multiple news accounts.
UPS company officials have made grief counselors available to all employees who returned to work Thursday.
Tim Donnelly is a former California State Assemblyman and author who is doing a book tour for his new book: Patriot Not Politician: Win or Go Homeless. He ran for governor in 2014.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.donnelly.12/
Twitter: @PatriotNotPol
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