Shootings California

A computer technician, fired from his job two years ago for sexually harassing a female co-worker, burst into the company's Silicon Valley offices Tuesday afternoon and opened fire with a shotgun and a hunting rifle, killing seven people and wounding five others, including the female employee, police said. All of the dead, two women and five men, were believed to be employees of the firm, Electro-magnetic Science Lab. As of late Tuesday, none of them had been identified.

The rural community of Cherryville, N.C., and the metropolis of Southern California will celebrate New Year's Eve the same way this week--with loud bursts of gunfire. The only difference is that in Cherryville the folks have enough sense to stage the centuries-old custom of "shooting in" the new year, a tradition they inherited from the town's German settlers. A ceremonial musket-toting procession will go door to door all night, firing powder-filled caps into the air.

An FBI investigation into the mysterious crash of a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner near Paso Robles focused Tuesday on a recently dismissed airline employee who was believed to have boarded the flight with a handgun, intent on killing the man who fired him.

One of the two endangered California condors released into the rugged mountains of Los Padres National Forest in January was shot at three times over the weekend, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday. The rifle shots missed the large vulture, which was perched on a cliff face 300 feet above a creek bed about 15 miles east of the release site. A suspect is being investigated.

An inmate at Donovan State Prison was shot to death by a guard Friday as guards sought to break up a fight among the inmates. Guards first fired wooden missiles in an attempt to stun the combatants, but when two inmates continued fighting, a guard fired a single shot, hitting the 23-year-old in the head, according to a prison spokeswoman. The name of the dead man was not released. A prison spokesman said that guards believed that one of the men involved in the fight had a knife.

Four injured California sea lions picked up in the Santa Cruz and Monterey areas during the last two weeks had been shot, the California Marine Mammal Center said. One of the animals arrived at the center dead, two others died later and the fourth is paralyzed, the center said. The last animal died Thursday, and bullet fragments were found in its left side, said center spokeswoman Denize Springer.

The Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation to substantially toughen the penalty for juveniles 16 years of age and over who are convicted of heinous first-degree murders. A lopsided bipartisan 63-4 vote sent the anti-gang measure to the Senate after a minimum of debate.

A man shot and killed his wife and 3-year-old daughter in front of the congregation at a Baptist Temple in Fresno, then killed himself with the same gun, authorities said. The man and woman died at the scene and the child died at a nearby hospital. Identities of the victims were withheld until relatives could be notified. Police said about 85 members of the congregation were inside the church at the time.