Shareef Allman

Background

Shareef Allman was a 47-year-old truck driver who worked at Lehigh Hanson's Permanente Cement Plant in the hills to the west of Cupertino. He worked at the plant for 15 years.

Allman lived in the Stonegate Apartments of San Jose and grew up in East Palo Alto in a family plagued by domestic abuse. Friends described him as a community activist and a happy, comedic man, and said he was never known to be violent and would advocate against violence, especially domestic abuse and gang activity.

Allman married singer Qwen Mejia in July 1989; she was also known as Valeri Allman. Their marriage was strained by a series of violent incidents perpetrated by Allman against his wife, according to court documents. Mejia obtained a restraining order against Allman in 1992 and divorced him.

Allman fathered a daughter, Lashae Allman, who was born in 1993.

Allman had been a producer for CreaTV, a San Jose-based public access broadcasting company, where he hosted a show entitled "Real 2 Real." In his show, Allman interviewed famous activists and figures such as Reverend Jesse Jackson. He also wrote a novel, Amazing Grace , about a fictional victim of domestic abuse who overcame her tribulations with the help of God.

Allman had worked as a bouncer for a nightclub in Sunnyvale and was trained in mixed martial arts. Neighbors and acquaintances of Allman said he was unhappy about being treated unfairly by co-workers, experiencing racial discrimination, and having his job being moved to a night shift.

The weekend prior to the attack, a friend said Shareef Allman visited him in Sacramento and showed him his trunk with an AK-47 inside and said that he had racist co-workers. The friend said he thought Allman was joking and did not take the statement as a threat.

The offence

Workplace shooting at Lehigh Hanson's Permanente Cement Plant

On October 5, 2011, an employee walked inside the Lehigh Hanson's Permanente Cement Plant in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Cupertino, California during a safety meeting and opened fire. This shooting left three people dead and six others injured.

Shareef Allman attended a safety meeting inside a trailer of Lehigh Hanson's Permanente Cement Plant and got into a confrontation with his coworkers. He exited outside the trailer to his car and armed himself, then walked back into the trailer and opened fire with a .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle and .40-caliber handgun at his co-workers. Three co-workers were killed and six others were wounded.

Allman trapped his co-workers inside the trailer by placing a piece of plywood and a rope over the door to jam shut it.

Attempted carjacking and shooting of a 60-year-old woman

Shortly thereafter, Shareef Allman attempted to carjack a 60-year-old woman five miles away at a parking lot of Hewlett Packard's campus. He shot her in the leg. She was hospitalized in fair condition.

Allman fled on foot in a Sunnyvale neighborhood where he eluded police in a manhunt that lasted about one day.

Investigation

A variety of schools went into lock downs because of the shootings. Lawson Middle School and Stratford Middle School went into lock downs. Fremont High School and Lynbrook High School were put into "Code Blue." Peterson Middle School, in Sunnyvale, was put on lock down for several hours and had to hold their students after the end of school.

At Peterson, students went into lock down before school began and were sent to their first period classes. Later in the day, Peterson staff facilitated students having lunch, students having the bathroom, and students having recess, as well as student evacuation at the end of the day. Peterson students were released while Allman was still at large in the Sunnyvale area.

Police confronted a man who fit the description of Allman hiding behind a car parked in front of a house in the Birdland neighborhood of Sunnyvale, bordering Cupertino.

Hundreds of federal and local officers had been searching for Allman for more than 24 hours. Authorities cordoned off the Sunnyvale neighborhood where Allman's car was found abandoned in a restaurant parking lot, searched home-to-home, and used helicopters. Officers searched home-to-home while helicopters hovered, but they were unable to locate the suspect until Thursday morning.

Authorities recovered a handgun, a shotgun and two assault rifles from various locations Wednesday but believed Allman was still armed, Sheriff Smith told the Chronicle, citing surveillance video.

Arrest / confrontation / death

On the morning October 6, police confronted Allman behind a car in Birdland in Sunnyvale. Officers asked Allman to put his hands in the air, and Allman raised his handgun and made a comment asking to have himself killed. Officers responded with fire.

It was initially reported that Allman died from the police officers' multiple gunshots, but an autopsy showed that Allman's fatality was caused by his self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Santa Clara County coroner’s office concluded that Shareef Allman died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the temple, not from bullets fired by county sheriff’s deputies.

Victims

The three men killed were:

• Mark Muñoz, 59, of San Jose
• John Vallejos, 51, of San Jose
• Manuel Guadalupe Piñon, 48, of Newman

Among the six injured were:

• Jesse Vallejos
• Mike Ambrosio

Other injuries and medical treatment

The woman shot in the attempted carjacking was treated at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and was hospitalized in fair condition. The hospital spokesperson Joy Alexiou said the patients were conscious and that indicators were favorable. One man was treated and released, and the other man and woman were in fair condition.

Another victim was taken to the emergency room at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto; hospital spokesperson Gary Migdol confirmed that the hospital would not release further details.

A spokeswoman for Regional Medical Center in San Jose said two of the shooting victims were brought to the hospital. One was treated and released, and the other was not released for information.

Carmen Rodriguez told the San Jose Mercury News that her brother-in-law, Mark Munoz, died in the shooting. She said: “He was very loving, very caring, and he couldn’t wait to retire,” of Munoz, who had worked at Lehigh for 20 years.

Witness accounts and quotes

An HP employee, Enrico Balanuuit, witnessed the attempted hijacking and told KQED’s Stephanie Martin: “I noticed he chased her. I think he was trying to get something. He grabbed her and then he punched her. Then after he punched her, I tried to hide, was trying to get in the car and go help (the victim), but then when I was hiding, I heard two shots.”

Balanuuit said: “He said the woman’s nose was broken and she was shot in the ‘lower right side of her body.’”

Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said three deputies spotted Allman holding a handgun and crouching behind a car in the driveway of the home. The Chronicle quoted Smith as saying: ”The deputies identified him as the suspect,” and ”He did display, in a threatening manner, a firearm. We don’t have any more information on that, and all three deputies did fire on the suspect.”

A neighbor told the Chronicle that Allman had recently been moved to the quarry’s night shift and “was not happy about it.” The neighbor, Paulette Conner, said: “She was frantic,” and “It’s horrible for her. He’s the only parent she knows. She’s a good kid, and I feel bad for her.”

A union representative, Mike Weltz, told The Bay Citizen that Allman had just returned from a four-week vacation and had been with the company for about 15 years.

KGO Radio quoted co-workers describing Allman as a “lively, likeable guy” who became unusually sullen and silent on Tuesday.

A group of Allman’s friends made public pleas for him to surrender to authorities.

Motive and contemporaneous descriptions

The motive for the shooting was not yet known.

Neighbors and acquaintances said Allman was unhappy about being treated unfairly by co-workers, experiencing racial discrimination, and having his job moved to a night shift. A neighbor said he was not happy about the shift change.

Allman had expressed domestic violence-related claims in court records and had been described as promoting peace in community accounts, while court documents described him facing serious accusations himself.

A judge gave Valerie Allman sole custody of their son and allowed Allman to visit.

Domestic violence allegations in court documents

Court documents described violent incidents perpetrated by Allman against his wife, according to court documents.

Valerie Allman obtained a restraining order and wrote: “My husband has a violent temper,” and “Cannot stand anyone to disagree with him. He interprets it as a challenge to him, and he reacts with physical violence.”

She later wrote: “assaulted me several times during the marriage...grabbed me by my hair and dragged me off the bed.”

Valerie Allman said the most serious incident required a police visit and medical treatment in August 1991. She wrote: “He picked up a brass lamp and hit me on the side of the head and knocked me unconscious.”

She also wrote that Allman flew into a rage when he could not find one of his guns, and wrote: “He started accusing me...I did not take his gun, but he would not believe me.”

Allman accused his former wife of being jealous “because I have found a new relationship and she still wants to be married.” He wrote: “My wife should note that I am very physically fit, and being physically fit I know that I have to take care and not to exert what I may think would be normal pressure which other people may believe to be physical abuse,” and added: “However, in this case, I can clearly say this physical abuse never occurred.”

Additional personal and community descriptions

Mitchell Julien, 50, of San Lorenzo, said he had known Allman for 20 years and described him as a “big teddy bear.” He said: “If you met him, you’d love him,” and “This guy is not a monster.”

Pastor Jeff Moore said: “When we were young, I was at parties with Shareef and we would go to clubs, but even in those days he was never violent,” and “I've seen him break up fights - I have never seen him fight.” Moore added: “Everything he does is to create a positive impression of black men.”

In the foreword to Amazing Grace, Allman wrote: “I've struggled from childhood, to man, to be the best that I am,” and also: “I had a very disheartened childhood. I felt unloved and hurt, and that hurt feeling turned into hate. Hate for the drugs that my mother used and hate for my father for the women he used and abused.” He also wrote: “Life for me today is a different tale.”

A neighbor at the apartment complex on Renaissance Drive in San Jose, Paulette Conner, said Allman had been moved to the 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. shift at the quarry and “was not happy about it,” because it left him less time with his daughter.

Allman wrote in his book: “My kids, I know, are a gift from above.”

Albert Salazar said: “He's cool,” and “He doesn't mess with anybody. He loves God, and he was always helping kids stay out of gangs.”

Pastor Tony Williams of Maranatha Christian Center said: “He is a helper,” and “I will have to ask him what went so terribly wrong.”

Rev. Jethroe “Jeff” Moore II, head of the Silicon Valley NAACP, said: “We are devastated by the loss of life,” and also: “They just closed the book and we’ll never know what page was ripped from it.... For my own selfish reasons I wish he had been taken alive so we could at least have had some conversation or explanation.”

Moore said: “To get up to go to work and never come back, it’s a shock,” and also: “As a community, we are hurt and at a loss for the proper words.”

Moore said Allman: “He was the one who would intercede when emotions ran high among others to say, ‘How can we work this out? Let’s come to the table. We can come to an understanding that is satisfactory,’” and: “I never even heard him raise his voice.”

Moore also called the result “mind boggling.”

Kevin Fagan’s piece included a statement that Allman had shot up the quarry where he worked, killing three colleagues and wounding six, and then shot and wounded a woman whose car he was trying to steal.

Timeline

4:00 a.m. — Shareef Allman attended a safety meeting inside a trailer of Lehigh Hanson's Permanente Cement Plant and confronted his coworkers. 7:00 a.m. — Allman attempted to carjack a 60-year-old woman at a parking lot of Hewlett Packard's campus and shot her in the leg. 7:20 a.m. — Police confronted Allman hiding behind a car in the Birdland neighborhood of Sunnyvale and officers fired. October 6, 2011 — An autopsy showed that Allman committed suicide; the coroner later concluded he died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the temple.

Outcome

Shareef Allman died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Santa Clara County coroner concluded that his death was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot to the temple, not by bullets fired by county sheriff’s deputies.