Three AAPI UPS drivers killed in San Francisco; shooter kills himself

SCREEN CAPTURE

Hours after the UPS shooting, someone posted a picture of slaying victim Michael Lefiti at the UPS facility.

WHILE MOST of the world was talking about the shooting in Washington DC Monday (June 14) where a congressman and members of his security detail were wounded, another mass shooting killing four Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders took place a continent away.

Victims of the shooting at a UPS facility in San Francisco included 50-year-old Benson Louie and 56-year-old Wayne Chan, both of San Francisco; and 46-year-old Michael Lefiti, of Hercules. The shooter, identified as former UPS employee Jimmy Lam shot himself in the head in front of police officers.

Two people wounded by gunfire were taken to a hospital. Five other people suffered less serious injuries in a frantic exit from the building, San Francisco police said.

The gunshot victims, like the killer, all were UPS drivers, and the attack unfolded as the workers gathered for their daily morning meeting before starting their delivery rounds, said Steve Gaut, head of investor relations at UPS.

Authorities offered no possible motive for the violence and Chaplin said at a news conference it was not an act of terrorism.

However, a union official says the gunman had filed a grievance complaining that he was working excessive overtime.

Lefiti's cousin, Mack Toia, told KGO-TV Channel 7, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, that he arrived to pick up Lefiti, a married father of five.

"I came out of the van, I walked up toward the gate and I looked over and I saw my cousin sprawled out on the concrete," Toia told the news station. He ran over toward Lefiti but was pushed away by arriving first responders.

“I got to touch him, but I couldn't hug him,” Toia said.

The UPS facility, a package-sorting and delivery hub that serves the greater San Francisco area and employs about 350 workers in the city's Potrero Hill area, was placed under a security lockdown for six hours.

"We are always saddened by the loss of life to gun violence," San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said on Twitter. "Any shooting is one shooting too many."

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