back to article Apple man found dead at Cupertino HQ, gun discovered nearby

An Apple employee was found dead in a conference room at the iPhone giant's HQ in Cupertino, California, this morning. A gun was discovered nearby. Cops were called to the One Infinite Loop campus at about 8.35am. Sgt Andrea Urena of Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office described the death as "isolated incident," adding "nobody …

  1. Adrian 4

    They escorted a woman with a gunshot wound to the head from the building ?

    That's big of them. Did they consider calling a doctor ?

    1. Beachrider

      What is your source...

      This article did not say that she had a gunshot wound to her head, just a wound. Do you have a source for your comment?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Beachrider

        At least one of them was found bleeding from their head, possible from a gun wound, and was being escorted out of the building by Apple security staff.

        The article did mention a gun was a possible cause of the wound.

        1. BurnT'offering

          Re: @Beachrider

          So, was the gun fired at her from a bigger gun?

          1. PNGuinn
            Facepalm

            Re: @Beachrider

            So, someone was holding the gun wrong?

            El Reg - we need a bad taste icon.

            1. Beachrider

              One person shot...

              There WAS some nasty, WRONG transcription of radio calls during the initial situation. Only the dead guy had a gun. Only the dead guy had ANY wound. Publicizing NASTY sources is just not-good, right?

      2. jayc

        Re: What is your source...

        ' just a wound' - I've not seen examples of gunshot/head wounds described in any other way than wound.

        One wouldn't see "Died due to Gunshot Obliteration of the maxillo-facial area and expulsion of brai..'

        1. Beachrider

          Re: What is your source...

          Actually, there was NOBODY ELSE WOUNDED, at all. Whatever source the writer used must have used, eliminated the information, as cited by the Reg. I was looking for how this 'original research' was justified. It wasn't justified, at all.

    2. Peter Simpson 1
      Happy

      What with all the layoffs and such, the standard of journalistic accuracy here in the Colonies is not what it once was.

      // Walter Winchell spinning fast enough to power a small town

    3. Phil Kingston

      Perhaps they, I dunno, thought it better to get an injured person and themselves away from an obviously dangerous situation?

  2. Roq D. Kasba

    Oh goodness how awful

    Thoughts are with the staff and affected families

    1. David Dawson

      Re: Oh goodness how awful

      It's at times like these that I think, my thoughts aren't really with them, or their families.

      This is obviously unfeeling, and I accept that, but I counter with the fact that, today, several hundred Syrians died. Were your thoughts with them?

      This is not a real criticism of anyone who has a different opinion, I'm just sadly, madly, cynical with someone in Apple HQ dying being given more apparent value than someone dying in street in somewhere with less shiny things to sell.

      The world is awful. At times like this my own thoughts become dominated with my family :-(

      1. Geoffrey W

        Re: Oh goodness how awful

        At times like this *I* think that maybe comments should be disabled on certain stories.

      2. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Oh goodness how awful

        I'm also considering all the people who die through suicide or for whatever reason in their workplace, probably every day, but none of them get a mention in the media because they don't work at Apple.

        1. TeeCee Gold badge
          Meh

          Re: Oh goodness how awful

          ....or they do work for Apple, but only indirectly on the assembly side.

          Then they only get a mention post facto, when some journo does a load of digging into the murky practices of their Chinese contractors.

      3. IsJustabloke
        Meh

        Re: Oh goodness how awful @David Dawson

        It's called "Virtue signalling" and is very much a modern phenomenon . Its a product of the "social media" generation although here in the UK at least, you could say that it all began with the death of Diana.

        People scrabble to indicate to others just what a lovely, nice person they are by the simple expedient of claiming sympathy for complete strangers ( or people they may *think* they know vicariously) and of course this makes them a better, nicer person then *you* because if you now say "I have sympathy for x" you're simply following their lead. There was a very interesting article about it in The Spectator late last year.

  3. sml156

    It's Love

    Aww young love I remember it well.

    1. John H Woods Silver badge

      Re: It's Love

      ... but tastefulness just a distant memory

  4. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    Advice, too late

    Don't invest your entire retirement plan in one technology company.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Advice, too late

      Because a 6.4% drop in the stock price is going to ruin your retirement plan? Don't be dense, that had nothing to do with the suicide.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Advice, too late

        Ever since I heard the news of Apple's stock price drop on the BBC World Service last night, I have checked the Register for an article. Reading a mention of it appended to this news doesn't sit well with me - not sure yet why yet.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Advice, too late

        6.4% in one day. But this guy is an insider. So perhaps he knows something that's not in the market yet.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Advice, too late

        Whilst it almost certainly had nothing to do with the fatality, if your appetite for risk is strong enough to allow you to put all your eggs in what you perceive to be a very lucrative basket and you play the futures market the margin calls triggered by a 6.4% drop could wipe you out.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Advice, too late

          Having your retirement plan in a single stock is one thing - risky, but in a company with a balance sheet and P/E as clean as Apple's not a huge risk as long as you don't "set it and forget" for years and years. Having your retirement in an options market bet where a 6.4% drop can wipe you out is just stupid YDI territory. Might as well cash it out and pick a number on the roulette wheel to put it on.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Obviously it was the guns fault.....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Guns kill people!

      1. Mark Exclamation

        No they don't. People kill people. Often using guns as tools. A loaded gun lying on a table will hurt no-one, until a person makes it do so.

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          This argument has been played across the internet so often over many years. Quite why, I don't know - the evidence largely speaks for itself.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          No they don't. People kill people. Often using guns as tools. A loaded gun lying on a table will hurt no-one, until a person makes it do so.

          True, the problem is guns+people, but good luck with trying to ban people.

          1. msknight

            Ban all the guns from the planet and in 50 years it will die.

            Ban all the people from the planet and in 50 years, it will flourish.

            1. BurnT'offering

              Re: Ban all the guns from the planet and in 50 years it will die.

              How the holy flipping bumcrack is that going to happen? Do tell

              1. tirk
                Facepalm

                Re: Ban all the guns from the planet and in 50 years it will die.

                Perhaps it will run out of freedom and oil??

                1. BurnT'offering

                  Re: Ban all the guns from the planet and in 50 years it will die.

                  If the planet runs out of oil, the guns will die.

          2. IsJustabloke
            Trollface

            I suspect that in the US it'll probably be easier to ban people than guns though...

        3. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
          Alien

          As Dick Solomon pointed out...

          ...in "Third Rock From the Sun", physics kills people!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > Obviously it was the guns fault.....

      OK, but in this case can we at least suggest that the user was holding it wrong ... ?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    hmmm

    I'm sure the FBI will find someway to get the gun to talk. Perhaps they can sue Smith and Wesson into revealing the real story.

    1. revdjenk

      Re: hmmm

      The gun is "just" a tool, I get it. It just happens to be the most efficient, most deadly "tool" when it is used. Also more distance from the victim aids its "usefulness."

      This is why there should be more restrictions on their acquisition.

      1. Jeffrey Nonken

        Re: hmmm

        Guns don't kill people. Butter kills people.

        ...

        Seriously, can we not turn this into Yet Another Useless Debate About Gun Control? Next thing you know somebody will Godwin this thread. Thank you.

        1. jukejoint
          Black Helicopters

          Re: hmmm

          Someone's already Shalmaneser'd this thread!

        2. DiViDeD

          @Jeffrey Nonken Re: hmmm

          Well Adolf Hitler had a gun, and look what he got up to.

          You're very welcome, I'm sure

          1. TeeCee Gold badge
            Coat

            Re: @Jeffrey Nonken hmmm

            Yup, he also shot himself.

            I've not seen anyone saying what a shame that was or suggesting banning guns to prevent future tyrants killing themselves though.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: hmmm

          @Jeffrey Nonken

          Ahh you have ruined it. By mentioning Godwin you have invoked Quirks exception.

        4. Bloakey1

          Re: hmmm

          <snip>

          "Seriously, can we not turn this into Yet Another Useless Debate About Gun Control? Next thing you know somebody will Godwin this thread. Thank you."

          Who died and elected you Fuhrer?

          It is interesting that the wound was caused by a gun, I personally would have expected it to be caused by a gun shot.

      2. msknight

        Re: hmmm

        I wouldn't say so much. Look at Thatcher.. murdered entire industries from hundreds of miles away. Or newspapers, destroy lives and communities from the other side of the planet even. Or the internet...

      3. Warm Braw

        Re: hmmm

        >This is why there should be more restrictions on their acquisition

        If the probability is that they're most likely to be used on the bearer or those who share the bearer's genes, there is an argument for giving them away.

  7. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    'Sgt Andrea Urena of Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office described the death as "isolated incident,"'

    No. A death is hardly ever an isolated incident. It affects a wider circle than the deceased.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Unhappy

      In the grand scheme of things though, Andromeda Galaxy is barely affected...

      (Sadly, this incontinent gun event has already received more attention than a marriage party gate crashed by an incontinent Hellfire missile. It's all a matter of perspective. What a world. I hope Shalmaneser is recording all of this.)

    2. Jeffrey Nonken

      I think the point was that it wasn't a rampage or mass murder, and nobody is likely in danger of physical harm who wasn't already harmed.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iPhones

    Apple once again compelled to unlock the iPhones of the persons involved in this incident "..to assist with Police investigations..." in tennn... niiine... eiiight...

    Yes, I'm Consipiracy Craig and you'll thank me one day..

  9. inmypjs Silver badge

    Rates and news?

    About 120 Americans kill themselves every day. One of them working for apple makes it news?

    911 claimed 3000 lives and 'changed everything'.

    The same year

    39,500 Americans killed themselves

    16,200 were killed by other Americans

    38,000 died in transportation accidents

    27,400 fell to their death

    3,500 drowned

    2,700 burnt

    36,300 were poisoned (guessing that includes drugs)

    None of which changed much.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Rates and news?

      "...27,400 fell to their death..."

      "...None of which changed much"

      Well, eventually after a couple of years all those holes and cliffs should fill up, right?

    2. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Rates and news?

      "One of them working for apple makes it news?"

      Yes, a person suffering an apparently gun wound and dying on Apple HQ is clearly news. It's news. It's stuff people should know about. It's a public company. It's news. if you don't think it's news, don't read the news.

      C.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Rates and news?

        But what about people firing guns and people dying at other HQs ?

        Would it be reported as news if it happened at Lockheed-Martin?

        I suppose if makes a change from reports of people dying at Foxconn.

      2. Jemma

        Re: Rates and news?

        It's still news per se if a pregnant teenager gets her head blown off with a thirty ought six in a 7/11. But it won't get the same coverage (or any at all if she's black American), even when two people were killed. Everything is news for a given value of news but it's only important to the masses, as far as the media is concerned if it's related to a celebrity, a major company, or in many places (including but not limited to, the Daily Fail offices) an excuse to bash a minority.

        This has been picked up by the American mainstream media because it's related to Apple, it's then been reported here because it's Apple, but I doubt we'd even know about it if it happened in the offices of some unknown start up in Redneckbury, TX...

      3. Bloakey1

        Re: Rates and news?

        "Yes, a person suffering an apparently gun wound and dying on Apple HQ is clearly news. It's news."

        <snip>

        Hmmm, dodgy writing aside, they died "on Apple HQ" , it shows how roofless <sic> Apple must be.

        News is subjective and as to what is news and what is not is down to the person reading the aforementioned news. News is also invariably biased and weighted towards some agenda or another.

        In operation Protective Edge in 2014, 73 Israelis were killed and 2100 Palestinians. I heard a lot about the first group and very little about the latter. {1.}

        Soooo, you can take your view of what is news and stick it! We all have a different biased perspective of what news should be and do not need other to tell us, particularly not a journalist who has a vested interest in such things.

        1. Source Jewish press.

      4. inmypjs Silver badge

        Re: Rates and news?

        "It's news. It's stuff people should know about. It's a public company. It's news."

        But shouldn't people also know about the other 119 that killed themselves today? and the 120 yesterday and the 120 tomorrow?

    3. Jemma

      Re: Rates and news?

      Sadly, the birth rate cancelled all of them out.

      You know, if all the other countries of the World charged America £100 million a time for every foreign victim of gun crime or just gun related idiocy guns would be gone in probably about a decade. Hit them where it hurts, in their wallets. 25% to the home government for costs and the rest to the families affected (although this might cause a macabre version of healthcare holidays.. "you really want to study at Yale don't you dear...)

      Feel sorry for the persons concerned but this wouldn't have got the coverage if it wasn't Apple related, and talking of Apple related how on earth is Sculley an "Apple guru"? He damn near bankrupted them. Personally I'd make the new campus into one huge shoot em up level, lock all of Apple inside and leave to soak... The last survivor could then be executed for crimes against humanity, eco crime and if they've been there long enough, aiding and abetting a dangerous sociopath.

      The world would be a better place, we'd have phones back that last 3 days on a 900mah battery, and doctors wouldn't be doing skin cancer tests with sodding iPhones (I speak from personal experience).

      And finally, in an unrelated note to all Americans. Please don't vote Trump in, if only for this single reason, over and above all the racism and that hair. If there is intelligent life on other planets, and they decide to drop in for a chat... Do you really want the first person they meet to be Donny Dickwit?

    4. Bloakey1

      Re: Rates and news?

      <snip>

      "None of which changed much."

      Bugger. But at least it is a good start and if we do better next year who knows?

  10. mrjohn

    "When the police arrived, an Hispanic Apple worker was found dead in a conference room with a gun nearby."

    Is "Hispanic" code for "cleaner"

    Why is the person's ethnicity relevant?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Is "Hispanic" code for "cleaner"

      No it isn't. It's code for Hispanic.

      Why is the person's ethnicity relevant?

      Aren't journalists paid by the length of their articles?

    2. Stuart Elliott

      Why is the ethnicity relevant

      It isn't, in much the same way most news articles when discussing someone will also mention their age in brackets, for whatever reason they think we need to know how old a perp is.

    3. PaulFrederick

      if the cleaners had arrived no one would have heard anything at all.

  11. scrubber

    Apple man found dead

    Are they questioning Bananaman?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apple man found dead

      I'd assume the peelers have rounded up all the core suspects.

  12. James O'Brien

    First post in years and then back to obscurity....

    I couldn't resist this comment.....

    It was Steve Jobs in the conference room holding the iPhone wrong.

    Did I win?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iPhone prototype?

    Now with 9mm?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My Guess

    Illuminati or Skype for business.

    (But on a more serious note, condolences to the real people affected by this event)

  15. Ralph B
    1. Jemma

      Re: Where's Jony Ive?

      Sweeping Tim Cook's chocolate chimney?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Prototype

    Does Apple have a trademark on "iGun"? Or, does this horrible incident indicate that the prototype suffered a fatal flaw?

  17. Tim Brummer

    How did this person who must live in California get a handgun? It's very hard to legally buy one here any more.

  18. jayc

    I honestly thought it was a joke when I read the title :-/

    ..as in 'Apple man found dead at "Cuppa-Tea"..'

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    While all the macabre jokes aside, no one has actually said that perhaps stress pushed this chap over the edge?

    I'm ex-fruit factory (tech support, very far down the ladder from Tim & co) and I can tell you, when you're in, there's a weird, self-inflicted type of stress.

    You want to work hard and see the place prosper, and it's very hard to come back to normal reality and not work 50+ hour weeks.

    It's not cult-like echo chamber, per-se, but it does have a weird weight of perception around it.

    That being said, they have been pushing mental health and help to the fore for at least the last

    3 years. The only thing is its up to individuals to take the step to get help.

    Sad that this chap didn't et the help they offer even to contract staff like cleaners.

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