
Laid-Off Tech Worker Kills 3 in Silicon Valley - Mistone
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Office-Park-Slayings.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
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jmah
<http://www.siport.com/> : _SiPort is a fabless semiconductor company,
incorporated in 2004, that received its first round of funding in 2005._

Sounds like they design ASICs for portable devices (audio, video decoders). Or
perhaps "designed".

<http://www.siport.com/management.htm> : _The system cannot find the file
specified._

How morbidly apt.

~~~
alaskamiller
There's a lot of fabless IC design startups around here in Silicon Valley and
some of them are run like white-collar sweatshops. Second-rate engineers are
imported from China or India with low pay but the lure of H1-B sponsorship to
work on designs in hopes of flipping it to a bigger semiconductor company or
back to OEMs in Asia.

This might be what happened but I think his project, or maybe the whole
startup since they ride or die on a single product, got fubared and he was let
go. He might be in the middle of relocating to the US or trying to get his
family over, or maybe the company screwed him over on pay.

Either way, it's not an excuse to kill but that might be the motive. He
probably already landed back in China by now.

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aneesh
I'm surprised at comments here condoning the murder. Getting fired from your
job is no excuse for taking someone's life. I don't care what the economy is
like - I don't think this guy deserves sympathy, especially not from an
educated, smart community like this. Millions of people have lost jobs before,
and they've struggled, tried hard, and moved on without resorting to violence.

I know a family member of one of the victims, and they didn't deserve this.

~~~
BFalkner
Some people were just speculating what the motive(s) might be. I read nearly
all of the other posts before getting to yours and didn't notice any even
imply that it was justified.

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vaksel
it was bound to happen eventually. Isn't TC's tracking of layoffs now up to
something like 60K people in the last 2 weeks?

With odds like that, it'll be impossible to find a new job...add on top of
that the crappy stock market that wiped out people's savings, the downturn in
the economy that slashed new job opportunities and many people simply won't be
able to survive(hell this guy had a mortgage payment on top of everything
else).

So they turn to blaming the guy who made their life miserable. And that would
be the guy in charge, who yanked the ground from under their feet.

~~~
nihilocrat
I am genuinely surprised more people don't go postal after layoffs. Maybe
adult-aged people are just more likely to commit suicide alone or just bury
their pride while they lose all their savings and move in with
parents/friends.

~~~
vaksel
yeah suicide I don't get at all...if you are going to kill yourself
anyways...why not take the people who drove you to it with you?

Or do something wreckless w/o caring about consequences? Steal a Ferrari and
drive it at 180 mph w/o a seatbelt until you crash or jump out of an airplane
w/o a chute etc.

Slashing your wrists in a bathtub or eating a bullet alone by yourself just
seems like a waste of an opportunity

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browngeek
"Police arrest alleged gunman in office park slayings that left 3 dead"
<http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931>

~~~
natch
Login-free link: <http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931?source=most_viewed>

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dfarm
I always thought this kind of thing was always done by uneducated postal
workers and the like. Pretty disheartening to see a fellow engineer act so
stupidly.

Time to reconsider getting a concealed weapons permit I guess. Condolences to
Agarwal and Pugh's (and anon woman's) families.

~~~
ricky_clarkson
What will you do with the concealed weapon? Shoot his bullet in mid-air?

~~~
mechanical_fish
I think it's the placebo effect. That's why I carry a homeopathic concealed
weapon: a small vial of water with some floating specs of rust in it.

~~~
maximilian
You mean you are carrying a small vial of water that says it has rust in it,
but doesn't actually (or at least has a very low probability of having a rust
molecule).

~~~
mechanical_fish
That's more correct, actually, and I used to use one of those. But I decided
it didn't have enough firepower. Now I prefer my homeopathic Death Star, in
case I get attacked by a whole planet at once.

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Prrometheus
Is this what the 80s recession felt like?

~~~
dhughes
Yes, except for the feathered hair and skinny ties.

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code_devil
This is really sad. Recession or No-Recession, he would have done the same
thing. I mean you can always cut your expenses, get a low paying job or go
back to your home country(if you are an immigrant). His actions basically
affected 3 families directly + also might indirectly bring uncertainty in the
lives of other fellow colleagues at the startup.

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mindaugas
It makes me sad. Because the saddest news makes biggest headlines. And I hate
this when people love disasters. I'd rather hear the success stories.

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byrneseyeview
Hacker News is not Slasher News or Shooter News. This is a generic crime
story. Flagged.

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cool-RR
holy shit.

