Comments on: Mourning, unease after Silicon Valley slayings

The man suspected of killing three employees at a start-up Friday was terminated, not laid off. But given the economic climate, the incident still has folks worried.

[sanenazok]

What a shame...may the victims rest in peace.

[AppleSuxLeo]

He went "silicon" ! Like postal.

[ruminator]

Damn, that is one scaree lookin dude. I wouldn't want too be the one telling him he were laid-off or fired.

[imacpwr]

Is "silicon" the new "postal"...?

[victor_sf]

This is probably unrelated, but some time ago the Reiser-fs founder killed his wife and is now in jail.

[iertry]

Yeh it is unrelated.

[sanenazok]

That case is unrelated...Reiser guy bought himself a Russian bride and thought he could return the purchase.

[Penguinisto]

Way unrelated...

[Greg5A]

Unfortuntely, this kind of tragedy has happened numerous times in a variety of companies and circumstances.

Employers ought to take security precautions to protect themselves and their workers against former employees whoj might have a homicidal grudge.

Companies should have armed guards. Individual executives should consider getting training and permits to carry concealed weapons for their personal protection.

Many of these tragic murders could have been prevented by some basic security precautions. Employers and business executives need to wake up.

[Draq Wraith]

Hum yeah i really want to arm a work place and give insecure people a false sense of security, and heighten the paranoia levels of people already worrying about their jobs.
The one way they could have resolved it and didn't was to find this man another job somewhere else, for someone else. If it was so close knit of a business they would have tried to ease the exit some. Oh well the dead are dead and the living still struggle to live. Other places that have such security arrangements that use armed guards pretty much escort (More like strong armed force of removal.) the fired employee out of the building and send him/her their stuff as they call it. Wait until it is the guards turn to be fired then you will see more problems with this idea.
It is a shame that people can not learn to be more humane to their employees, profits over people has never worked and the Big three automakers are now learning that lesson the hard way. The picture of the gunner looks like yet another man pushed beyond what he can take, it also looks like he has not had a vacation in quite some time. What the gunman did was not right, but I bet if this story was developed more they would see something else wrong as well, because they did not give the reason he was fired.
D~W

Finally somebody did see the rest of the situation. Nothing will excuse what Wu did but we might very well take the effort to understand what led up to it. It is ironic - and possibly intentional - that the story referred to his firing as "termination." If this was the language used by the company that says a lot for the climate in the office.

Stress, like guns, kills.

JimB

[frasercrane]

Hey Greg, employers cannot secure themselves and their workers 100% against former employees who might have a homicidal grudge. If someone is hell-bent on mayhem, it will happen and there is no way to prevent it--ask any security expert who's willing to admit to the truth.

Companies DO have armed guards. But they cannot watch everyone everywhere every minute. Furthermore, you assume the perp here was NOT an executive. If he had been trained and permited to carry concealed weapons for personal protection who knows how many more up the food chain would have been shot dead. An armed camp is no solution--it is a truism that weapons are no cure-all because very often they wind up being used against the owner..

You miss another very important point--maybe, many similar tragic scenes were prevented by some of the sound management practices suggested by Draq. You don't read about what DID NOT happen, you read only what bad did happen. Posters need to wake up, drop the blinders and see the big picture.

[walwebster]

Yet one more very important point of distinction -- people get laid off, quite ruthlessly sometimes, in all countries, but Only In America do they go postal (or "silicon").

There's an 800-lb gorilla in the room representing the main difference .... and HE's probably armed, too ...