Fired engineer kills 3 company execs

Now I know who the briany one is, I'll keep looking for your posts.

this is not always true because ongoing companies create business plans, project plans, new product plans, and plans for acquiring and integrating other ventures. General Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, ?Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.? jimmy info@ibowtech.com www.onlineuniversalwork.com

...all INDIA indians should be deported back to India!... they are polluting america...

Guys, This is only the beginning..... So arm yourselfs because the shit is going to hit the fan after OBAMA gets done with this country. Ya, and I am an Engineer

Killing people we do not like is not the solution of our problems! We do have different types of attitudes that we merit from those people who lived around us! Better make our children a God fearing one nowadays to at least have a bigger percentage of harming anyone or being away from harm. Before doing such things, let us think of our family first, loveones, or anyone that means most to us! In this way I believe it would make us think twice to do things that is not right.

AustinCEO: WOW! I LIKE your policy! These unfortunate events always seem to happen in a "firearms forbidden" work environment, and I can picture people being much more pleasant with one another when an unknown number of employees are legally packing for self defense.I have witnessed much better general behavior in states that permit concealed carry, but you are the first business I have heard of that condones it- are you hiring?. I somewhat understand the stress that may cause some poeple to crack, even though I cannot condone it... The semiconductor industry has become a heartbreaker and the cyclic turns appear to intensify every time around. God willing, I have found an opportunity in "greener" silicon pastures that (hopefully)should get me out of "chip and ship" by this summer... and my heartfelt deepest condolences to those who give their lives, souls, and sanity to producing semiconductors for continually diminishing rewards.... Moore''s Law for manufacturing personnel....

Wu did indeed "snap." Wu will be prosecuted to the full extent of California law which is less than he deserves.

1) It was for poor performances. 2) Was he working/reporting directly to those 3 executives? Most likely not (he was test engineer). 3) Why not inviting his manager to the "meeting"? Was his manager Chinese? 4) Many unknown things means too much speculation. 5) It is not racism to speak about typical behaviour of some persons from a different culture (bad Indian managers, Chinese managers hiring mostly Chinese people, etc.). It is a statistical reality 6) Using the gun did not solve the family problems.

In my company, we allow people to come to work armed with their own personal defense system (i.e. a handgun) to defend themselves - thus no one ever fears the rogue employee "going postal". Having said that, our CEO and management is outstanding, respectful, candid, and he/they don''t make huge multiples what everyone else makes. Solid American management should be to treat staff like what management CLAIMS they are (But lies): key assets. How can firing "assets" be good for a company? When the company LIES. I would suggest that the cops put a bullet in this joker''s head and save the taxpayers a LOT of headaches and cost. As for the families of these slain victims: my sincerest condolences. May God rest their souls.

Can we have some better proof reading? "But the snapped argument is surely one Wu''s >>>dense<<< will bring to the table. ..... ..... so that argument will most likely be minimalized by any >>>>>half-descent<<<<< prosecutor "

Here you go Chris: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_on_re_us/big_bonus ... miss off the htt_p string and the EDN Arbitrary Filter "allows" links.

Guys, cheer up...look at his: "Ill. family thanks employees with surprise bonuses" (search yahoo with that, html link is not allowed here) I am proud of this American corporation doing such thing for it's emplyees...I will do that too if someday I can...Guys, that's what we called American...

Sigh...

oh yes, i forgot to say that when we were working like hell, i did not see any directors or execs showed up on evenings and weekends...they had to stay with their families you know...

i don't know how you guys worked in your job, but let me tell you what i had been doing in a chip company i used to work...i had to work 7-days a week for nearly half year and almost every day was a over 10 hours long day before tape-out...guess what, on our timesheet, we were asked to put only 40 hours a week, for project cost calculation for upper management, since it's illegal to show more than 40 hours a week. beside, i guess those cost figures would be so "accurate" for the upper management to plan for the next projects. what a joke. and the wonderful thing was that after the chip was taped out and the economy downturn came (at least that was what the upper management said), many people in the team including me were laid off...and like other people described, were treated like a thief, since they feared we were going to steal things from our computer...we were only a step cloe to the day labor on the streat... no harshness at workplace? i guess you haven't been doing anything so far in your "career"...

My following comment is not refering to SiPort but in general. The comments on racial thing above are not completely nonsense. However, I believe it is more of a cultural matter than a racial matter. I had several bosses in the past years. Some of them were indian. I would say many of them were not so nice, but some of them were no difference from other bosses. It might not be coinsident that the nice ones had been in US for quite a long time and I believe they had changed quite a bit in their management style. It eventually boils down to personal style of managing skills.

There your go. The rich and stupid getting exactly what they they dish out. Upper management has no clue of how thier decisions affwct us common engineers. Perhaps more should bite the dust. Ponder thant you poor old CEO's.

So, the real reason for Wu to commit such a horribe crime is clear, that is his finacial problem, and it''s not true that engineers are not being treated like disposables? Not so fast either, guys. Let''s not blind-fold ourself and refuse to see the disturbing fact that not so few of us engineers don''t feel fairly treated. The issue that engineers are not good at talking to each other to express and release their stress or pressure could lead to some drastic action if it''s triggered some way.

Poor engineers...

Please read the above comments carefully...! Did anyone specifically say SiPort's execs are like that? People are expressing their stressfulness of their experience. The fact that companies are not treating people with respect is there. The comments based on races are just pure nonsense. Again, nobody is jumping to the conclusion that SiPort execs are like that. My sincere condolences to all the people suffer from this tragedy...

For the records I am Chinese. Now that the real news about Mr. Wu is surfacing, all those who made cruel comments about three innocent people who died, should feel ashamed. Especially if you are engineers, you should be more ashamed. Without data and facts you already drew conclusions. Don't be surprised if you get fired from your job. And it would not have to be an Indian or a white boss; I will. Follow Socrates' three rules before judging or making comments base on here and say. 1. Do you for sure know it as truth? 2. Will it be of any use to you? 3. Will it do harm to others. You have failed on all three counts and done an immense harm to the families of three innocent victims.

Too sad that people have made comments without finding out the facts. Blaming Indian person who was not his boss, comments about harshness at workplace etc...Here is the latest from mercury news: The guy was sick. I hope some of the people who made racist comments or ones without facts are not as sick as Wu. "But a review of his investments by the Mercury News ? he owns 17 properties in three states ? indicates that in the months before the killings, the housing bubble burst and many of Wu's once-promising real estate investments tanked. While speculation centers on Wu's apparent employment problems at SiPort, a search of property records shows he also was facing significant financial woes due to the downturn in the real estate market. While he looked prosperous on paper, with properties in California, Arkansas and Washington, several are worth less than he paid for them. And records also indicate that he also is tapping heavily into the equity in his Mountain View home."

To BG: You are right that McVeigh was not marine. He was a white man from catholic family serving in the U.S. Army from 1988 to 1991. He killed 168 people. My point was that killing and terrorism are not related to race and nationality what some people on this forum imply. However, without easy access to explosives and guns is much more difficult to kill. As a result in Washington, DC, more people are shot than in Japan (Japan is more than 120x more populous than the U.S. capital). The gun ban in DC is not effective because you can import them from other states.

after reading only about half the posts here, I think that take away from this article is that corporations are too quick to "throw away" their people. not saying there is ever an excuse to go to this extreme, but in a sense, we reap what we sow when we treat people and their lives as disposable. my sincere condolences to the grieving families.

Ultimately, we are all held responsible for our actions, but I wonder if Wu thought that he and he alone could extract ''justice'' and, having watched one too many "Gunsmoke"s or the like, simply set out to be judge jury and executioner. He is much more a menace than any mere murderer if so, for he is an archtype, one we had better quash after the Iraq fiasco showed so clearly how this kind of behavior muddles American''s thinking.

With the backdrop of SV cut-throat culture, remnant caste and bureaucratic management style and cultural differences, a very bright engineer found himself short-changed after SiPort recent achievment of important business milestone, and commited an ultimate revenge. I would like to understand the forces that move those individuals to this tragedy in future open trial. There must be rational reasons for us to learn lesson.

I am assuming that Wu was treated badly within the company by the Indian guy. I had an Indian boss in my previous company. He asked all the team members to Report to him everyday and list what we did for each hour during the day. He likes peer performance review. In this way, we need to write down each other?s Week points on the paper. We all got bad performance if we wrote something good for the person whom he did not like.

Why aren't those executives fired? They are why the companies are in bad shape, they are why this whole economy collapsed. what is going on with this world?

I agree that in some Asian cultures getting fired is far more humiliating than others...

I believe what triggered the guy was the firing (not layoff), which in many people's mind (especially for the people from Asian culture like China, Korea, Japan) it's a humiliation.

Too bad this guy didn't work for Ken Lay at Enron.

same here...when you are there, your ears are filled with the BS like you are the most valuable asset in the company. The growth rate and profits are all they care...shame on american corporates...glad i moved back to europe three years ago.

See how engineers are how easy to deal with. Just 2 weeks and some respect will make them all happy. When I got laid off, I was treated like a thief...taking out my stuff with manager and security looking at my back...I hated them, but what can you do except telling myself forgetting all that after I left. BTW, I was awarded twice for outstanding performance on the job and dedication to the job of working long hours.

How come we have to give 2 weeks notice after we find new job. Company never give 2 weeks notice before they let employee go. NOT FAIR AT ALL

The point is how does the manager takeing care of their employees. I got lay off a year ago. When my boss called me in his office, he told me he had try many ways to talk to the senior management team to keep my position. However, they refused. Boss told me I can still work for 2 more weeks before I go. Do not need to take any time off for any job interviews within 2 wks. In my last day, He also provided free lunch for me with co-work.

With all of the instances of upper management running good companies into the ground - only to be given their multimillion dollar golden handshakes before going off to ruin other companies. I'm shocked that more CEO's and CFO's aren't found dead in parking lots across the US. Street gangs kill people for 0.0001% of that kind of cash.

Wish all managers are like Dave K....unfortunately, most of them are not...

i don't think people here are specifically talking about the SiPort executives, but in general based on their experience with them...

Wow! A lot of you seem to assume that engineering managers are uncaring, greedy, selfish people who don?t care about the folks working in their teams. I?ve been a manager for a while and, yes, I have had to let people go. This involves sleepless nights worrying about their future, high levels of anxiety about their well being, and concern about their families, even in cases where you might not particularly get on with the person leaving. If you have never had to look someone in the eyes as you lay them off, I hope you never have to go through this. Don?t blame careless hiring or bad planning either, small companies are often as careful as they can be to make sure they can afford new hires. I would agree that training of some sort is warranted as managers make and execute these difficult decisions. There are a lot of assumptions in these messages that the SiPort managers were somehow greedy or malicious, that their race had something to do with this (truly ridiculous), or that they simply didn?t care. The fact that all three of the managers met with Wu after letting him go, something that manager guides say not to do, tells me that it is likely they wanted to help as much as they could, or at least hear him out. So unless you have some inside knowledge, the ONLY response to this message should be extreme condolences to their, and Wu?s, families and regret that three excellent people have been undeservedly cut down in their prime by a monster. Wu?s fate is a whole lot brighter than the people whose future he robbed them of.

Agree with cc on that...but guns are not the main thing here. If he did not have a gun, a knife with him would be lethal enough...maybe worse...

This is an unbelievably tragic event. Given the current economic troubles in our country, there will undoubtedly be more layoffs and job losses. The way Wu responded to his situation was clearly despicable. But I''d like to warn some of the previous posters from jumping to conclusions about Wu. I''m not saying what he did wasn''t terrible, but everyone has a breaking point. For some people it just takes less for them to reach that point. I think given extreme circumstances, anyone is capable of murder. Virtually all of us could have handled a mere job loss without murder, but Wu obviously couldn''t. What this tragedy really teaches us is that guns need to be much better regulated, so a person like Wu who couldn''t handle stress very well would not have the means to commit so heinous a crime. Furthermore, I am deeply disturbed by some of the sweeping generalizations brought up about "Indian bosses" and Chinese people. How could two people in this singular situation possibly represent two of the largest nationalities in the world? Everybody believes in some stereotypes, but it is our duty as citizens of the most open-minded and progressive countries in the world to work hard to overcome these biased and incomplete viewpoints. My heart goes out to the families of the three executives and to Wu''s family. They may never overcome the grief caused by Wu, but I hope the rest of us can all learn some things from this event.

A person has to be pissed off so badly to go that extreme...it's a two-party thiing. Sadly, coprate exectives or whoever the other party will never get any bit of punishment...and people will forget about it soon. CEOs will still be the CEOs same way; employees will be employees unchanged....

Nobody said Wu's behaviour is right. He will get his punishment badly. No doubt about it. People here are talking about the other side of the story...why this happens...

None of my firends working in Silicon Valley had good experience with these Indian bosses.

Forget racial and cultural issues for a moment and let's get back on track: this guy lost A JOB. Not an arm or a leg, not a loved one. A job. Economies expand and contract. Whether or not this guy was working hopelessly under a tyrant or just plain sucked at what he did, there's no excuse. He took a wuss way out and shot up some people and then didn't even have the balls to shoot himself. Let him rot. I feel poorly for his wife and children, as well as the families and friends of those involved at SiPort. May you all heal completely.

We wonder why the US economy is failing and we are falling behind other countries in productivity. It is because our intelligent workforce is arguing racism, moralism, relativism, conservatism, liveralism, etc. on an engineering blog! I am beginning to think the majority of people either have attention defecit or they are addicted to distraction. Get back to work America!

Don't have good feeling of these india bosses. I agree Dave said "culture made them to do the bad things". I don't believe that Wu had poor performance. Company always makes people look bad before let them go.

I'd steer clear of any indian bosses, all very bad experiences. Maybe their culture made them think it's ok to tream employees like dirt or lower cast people. But I do feel sorry for the HR and maybe the other guy.

firing people on the grounds of poor performance is a very subjective reason. especially when some of the bosses exploit employees with false promise of stock options and fire them shortly before it is vested. I don't mean to point out that some indians bosses are notorious in mistreating their employees or if it's true in this case. but people need to be treated fairly, otherwise, normal guys can be pushed to go extremes.

I heard the Wu's wife was laid off about a year ago and they just had the third child. Who would go to that extreme of destrying other people's families and his own if he is not desperately felt hopeless... From my prior experience with those exectives, they are the most selfish people in the world. Period. Even in Wu's case, the company can could have done much better than just fire him especially at the bad time and considering his family situation. However, have you ever heard the company exectives thinking that way for their employees? Maybe never...!

Guys,Times are bad now,people are stressed out.My heartfelt sympathy to all the families of the Exececutives and shooters family.The Guy was just stressed out and had no hopes.That is why Our hopes should be only on the Almighty God,not on these jobs.I was laid off by a Lady Manager, coz she had personal issues with me. I got ajob within 10 days .Praise the Lord.

Joe Money''s comment is the reason why the economy is collapsing. Greedy executives trying to squeeze maximum profits disregarding everything else, just to please the stockholders and get a fat bonus. It is not good for the economy and we are seeing the results. They lack long term thinking, and why should they care? They are taking all the money now, damn the future of the company or country! Government needs to bring back controls and regulations to the industry. We wouldn''t be in a global recession now if they hadn''t taken them away in the first place. People who think like Joe Money need to be set limits and controls. They are unhealthy to the economy when let loose. Employees are people, not "assets" or tools to use and discard without respect. It is not about making them feel "warm and fuzzy". While I don''t condone the murder, I can see some disturbed mind "snapping" and going to the extreme.

It is nice for the three victims to agree to meet the guy. They probably should have talked to the guy more often before they fired him. People don''t snap if they know exactly where they are. To those who are about to fire people, do not do it with glee for the sake of your family. We do have 2nd amendment. So be polite.

If the execs had guns they could have stopped him dead in his tracks. Or if it was known that they were armed, the dude probably would not have bothered and just have killed himself, his entire family, or some combination thereof.

Go ahead. Keep pissing off school children, angry drivers, gangs, and now engineers. Have a nice day :)

True, this should've not happened. But it probably made rest high tech execs think twice now about laying off, huh? I believe things happen for reasons. Easy access for guns in US is one thing (this won't ever change in US) but Wu is symbolizing the abused workers' voice in America where the employment system hire-fires w/out any long term business plans. Look at what the Japanese do, though they have lay-offs, they pay employees less than US system but keep them longer in their company, the good ones. They try to care for them. Look at GM, Ford, Chrysler now. BTW, I am not Japanese but I lived there for a long time.

I am Indian. Out of 40+ bosses I had in my career, four were Indian, some Chinese, may whites...3 Indian Bosses were good, many whites and Chinese were good. Just a few were unethical and tyrants. Only time I was let go was by an Indian Boss. I pleaded to him to let me keep insurance for few months (at my expense) until I can get external one. I had two young children. He refused. I was very angry but did not think of shooting him or hating Indians. Neither do I hate any whites or Chinese. This has to do with person's value and integrity and not race. If hatred is answered by hatred when will it ever stop?

I feel soory for the families of the victims and Wu''s family. One thing I would like to express as an eningeer who had been laid off for 3 times in the past years. I can not call myself the best engineer, but I am damn sure I am better than most of the engineers in the companies I worked for from the perspective of either the job performance or work ethics. Let''s face it. Many layoffs are picking the people not based on those things, but on how buddy you are with those managers or exectives. In the past companies I worked for, every time there was a layoff, I could guess out exactly who were going and who stayed based on their "buddyness" with the upper management. Isn''t that disgusting? I am totally agaist using that kind of violent way since it''s selfish to destroy other people''s families. But as an engineer too, I feel sympathy for an engineer especially at his age.

This is a very disturbing incident, and part of an even more disturbing trend. Like other posters here, I am an engineer and a gun owner. Like them I have been let go from companies (not for poor performance) and it has never crossed my mind to shoot anyone. Obviously there are people, engineers who DO think about it - apparently believing that they are somehow justified in murdering someone. Also, seemingly, forgetting (or discounting) what will happen to their own families in the aftermath. How does someone arrive at this conclusion? It is hardly the product of a logical, rational mind, and it seems as if there must have been some indication of the potential for this behavior. Things are going to get much worse economically before they get better, and I am worried that this sort of thing may occur more frequently. It seems to me that those who are calling for seminars - education and training - are on the right track. Education for management is also indicated, as I (and I am sure others) have seen treatment of employees that was frankly despicable and may be part of the problem. Joe Money and those who think like him had best beware: focusing on the bottom line to the exclusion of all else is NOT a sound business plan, and is actually detrimental to the health of any company - while it may maximize short term profiteering, it is not beneficial to long term stockholders. Recognizing that your people are your most important asset is more than platitude in a company mission statement. Treating them with respect, especially when letting them go, is only common sense.

I work in the building next to SiPort and I was in our facility when the shootings happened. I know nothing about what happened next door, other than the reporting including Suzanne's factual summary, but I'd like to commend the Santa Clara police who came into our company and calmly explained that there'd been an "incident," that we were no longer in danger, and that when we left, we'd be asked for ID (this was before the alleged shooter was caught the next day.) I was impressed by the very professional way that the officers handled the situation. We owe them thanks for standing between us and the bad guys.

the companies should teach the employees how to deal with these kinds of situations like they teach fire drill every quarter.

You all should be trying to find a contribution to society instead of reading this muck.

JoeM, Please try not to fabricate "facts" to make an argument. Timothy McVeigh was not a Marine. Also, if you think shootings are committed by those legally allowed to own guns consider how the bullets got into the thousands of people murdered in Washington DC during the gun ban there.

Hey, quit blaming Chinese or any other minorities. If it were not for immigrants and children of immigrants, SV would be a shadow of what it is today. Almost any company today is made up of mostly such people. I look around and in terms of technical people our department has 4 whites and 18 minorities. We may as well close shop if all the minorities left. So 123, quit complaining about immigrants.

and here I was all this time thinking you were a liberal Susan. ... But you ask a good question. Tech companies are responcible to thier stock holders not for making their employees feel warm and fuzzy. This is a tragedy.

To commenters Joe and Ray: When I wrote "the type of guy you wouldn't even think would own a gun" I'm quoting reports on how Wu's neighbors described him. This is not my personal opinion of Wu. I'll add quotes now to clarify. No offense was meant to gun owners, at least not on my part. But let's not debate the Second Amendment or what "types" of people own guns. Sphinx brings up a good point. How involved should companies be in helping employees handle stressful situations brought about by the current recession?

"So a Chinese shot and killed again." I checked statistics. In 2000 there were 52,447 deliberate and 23,237 accidental non-fatal gunshot injuries in the United States. Only U.S. citizens have right to buy and own guns. Therefore, vast majority of the above shooting was done by Americans. Nothing is safe anymore. Should all Americans leave this country? Who will accept such violent people? White American retired marine Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people and left over 800 injured. What shall we do with the retired marines?

Mike you must be a very disturbed individual or just basically prejudiced to suggest that an Indian boss was the problem. He must have spent more time with the VP Operations who was Caucasian and was clearly his supervisor. Maybe you should show up in court as a supporting witness for this individual. I hope the judge sentences you to 3 years of hard labor for butchering the English language.

So a Chinese shot and killed again. We have seen snapped Asians like this case so many times since the days the US helped China to get into the WTO. Nothing is safe anymore. Our executives are not safe; our bus passengers are not safe; our food are not safe, our machines are not safe; our pets are not safe; our babies are not safe; our websites are not safe; our tourists are not safe; our pretty models are not safe; our jobs are not safe. What else can one think of? No more trade with China and no more Chinese immigrants please. Bye.

What did the author imply with "the type of guy you wouldn't even think would own a gun;"? I am an engineer, own guns and understand their place in society. I enjoy using them to shoot targets and hunt. There is a responsibility that comes with gun ownership. I've also had some very bad bosses that infuriated me, but I NEVER considered shooting or threatening them with a gun or any other weapon. In the USA, if you are a law abiding citizen and do not have a criminal or domestic abuse record, it is perfectly legal to own guns, regardless of where you live. The author of the article should explain what was meant by the comment.

I am greatly saddened at the deaths of the individuals mentioned above. However, I am offended at the statement "the type of guy you wouldn''t even think would own a gun". I have own guns all my life and was taught by my father to respect them. Your statement implies that gun owners under stress will resort to violence and that is not true. I have been laid off four times. It never entered my mind or heart to harm anyone after they told me the news. Each time I simply prayed, got off my but and found another job.

My heart goes out to the families of the execs that were murdered. No one desires this fate. As far as the comments from GB6 I would say "get a life". In reading the article I am disturbed by the comment that Engineers are the "most undervalued members of the US workforce". Why has this happened to such a dedicated and talented group of individuals?. While being under appreciated does not create license for acts of violence, I am amazed that people don't appreciate what engineering has brought to the economy and well being of our great country. Something seems strangely out of balance if this is truly the case.

The name "Jing Hua Wu" suggests Chinese origin, but this is no hint of direct immigrant, first generation descendent, etc. If he grew up in China, there might be some expectation of the kind of implicit family/employer obligations that China, Korea, and Japan are notorious for. The perceived "betrayal" might have warranted, in his thinking, a lethal response. ~~~ There is, whether warranted or not, certain attitudes of cultural superiority that exhibit themselves in strange ways in all cultures. Anyone want to count the number of times senior Japanese government or corporate officials have made remarks about Americans or American ethnic groups, only to apologize and/or resign? The 'Indian boss' could have been good or bad, however he might have been perceived as a lower life form by this individual. Given the other targets, any such prejudice doesn't seem to be limited to Indians.

Lets not go into unborn babies (some of which are rape and drug babies). I had a real bad boss, ex israeli army. He was voilent and paid me bugger all. Still, this is no cause for me to get emotional, I simply worked there till I saved enough to wave goodbye to him and using what I learned while working for him (he was a very smart person) got me a far better and higher paying job.

Nice way to get up on the anti abortion soapbox GB6. I am sorry for the families of those that lost their lives and I am sorry for this engineer's children as they too will be deprived.

revenge of the nerds?

If you were called a geek everytime you told people you're an engineer i think you would do the same.

Our nation kills an average of 4000 unborn babies every day. We live in a culture that welcomes and embraces death. We are fortunate that events like this do not happen more often.

All companies are going through the pains. However, for the good of everyone (physically, emotionally and financially), executives in ALL companies should seriously consider having seminar/s that address how to handle situations regarding the current recession (I know we officially are not there yet but WE ARE), unemployment and the stress of having loved ones, close friends, neighbors, acquaintances, fellow church members, etc.

who cares if the boss was Indian? You kill someone, you rot in jail and even that's not enough.

Do not know what happened within the company. I had a indian boss before, he was very bad guy, could not find any words to express how bad he is. I may shot him also if I have a gun.