The Sunnyvale, California mass shooting on February 16, 1988, was one of the most thrilling murders of the late 20th century.
The tragedy was the undoing of a man who was supposedly in love with a young woman who subsequently wanted nothing to do with him.
He didn’t take no for an answer and resorted to doing the unthinkable to get her attention.
Seven people died in the shooting. The victim, a woman by the name of Laura Black, fortunately, made it out alive.
The mass shooting was the culmination of a four-year-long stalking directed at Black.
She was exposed to a life of fear, constant threats, and pure torment before the perpetrator went behind bars.
It’s been so many years since the mass shooting and naturally, people wonder where Laura is at now.
We will tell you about it, but first…
Who is Laura Black?
Laura Black was a young girl pursuing her dreams before the worst befell her.
She was out of college before joining the Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory (ESL) in Sunnyvale, California as an electrical engineer in 1984.
However, she met her stalker 35-year-old Richard Farley who had worked for the company for about nine years as a computer technician.
As soon as Farley laid his eyes on Laura, he immediately “fell in love” with her.
Unfortunately for him, Black was only interested in a professional relationship with Farley.
Since he couldn’t handle the rejection, he went insane and began stalking the young woman.
He began sending her letters, leaving romantic gifts on her desk, calling her desk multiple times during the day, and even joining her aerobic class.
Where is Black Now?
Farley took things a notch higher by getting Black’s personal information from the HR office.
After he sent a package containing her house keys, Laura knew she needed to take stern action.
She filed for a permanent restraining order and a court date was set.
A few days before the hearing, Farley bought himself a shotgun and ammunition.
The day before the court date, he went over to ESL, parked for a long time and eventually went inside and committed the heinous crime.
Farley later claimed that he stayed at the parking lot waiting for Black to leave for home before asking her to rescind the restraining order. If she refused, he would kill himself.
The court dismissed the claims saying that he premeditated the murder.
Essentially, Farley shot at everyone on his way toward Laura’s office.
Fortunately, Black didn’t give him access to her office, an act which gave her a bullet in her shoulder. She was among the injured employees.
Despite pleading not guilty, Farley was declared guilty and sentenced to death.
He’s currently on death row awaiting his fate.
Laura Black was admitted in hospital for 19 days after the shooting but she recovered and went back to work at the same company.
She kept a low profile and very little is known about her to date.
She’s currently 61 years old, though.
However, we can confirm, through a 2015 Facebook post that the poor woman is still alive.
The post, created by Richie Solomon bears the photo of Laura Black (now a much older woman) and the poster. It reads the following:
“Laura Black is very much alive and well. She was visiting with a friend of hers in San Jose and decided to drive to Santa Cruz so I could have lunch with her. She’s not a member of Facebook but she would very much to hear from you.”
Richie, who is clearly Laura’s friend went on to ask Laura’s fans to message him to get her email address.
Black doesn’t have any other social media accounts, so there’s no telling if she’s still alive after the 2015 Facebook post.
When you go through what she did, you may want to stay under as much as possible.
We sure hope she is alive and doing well.
Closing Thoughts
Stalking was not considered a big deal back in the day.
It wasn’t until the ESL mass shooting and the killing of actress Rebecca of Schaeffer triggered the passing of the first anti-stalking laws in the United States.
Sadly, some lives had to be lost in order to make the necessary changes.
Laura Black is certainly a lucky woman to have survived the shooting.
