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Richard Wade Farley (born 1948) is an American convicted mass murderer. A former employee of Electromagnetic Systems Labs (ESL) in Sunnyvale, California, he stalked co-worker Laura Black for four years beginning in 1984. Black obtained a temporary restraining order against him on February 2, 1988, with a court date set for February 17, 1988 to make the order permanent. On February 16, 1988, Farley shot and killed seven people at ESL and wounded four others, including Black. He was convicted of seven counts of first degree murder, and is currently sitting on death row at San Quentin.

The stalking of Laura Black

Richard Farley first met Laura Black (who was twenty-three at the time) in April 1984 at a company function. When Black did not accept his advances, Farley began leaving gifts, including cards and home-made bread, on Black's desk. Despite her refusals, Farley persisted; he began calling her desk every few hours as well as showing up at Black's aerobics class. By giving false information to ESL HR department through pretexting, Farley was able to obtain Black's home address and home phone number. Farley was also known to have befriended the custodial department in order to copy Black's desk keys so he could rifle through her belongings in order to gain insight into her life. He is also known to have sifted through confidential personnel files of Black through false pretenses.

At this time, Farley was sending one or two letters to Black per week. Although there were periods of times when the letters would cease, in total Farley sent about two hundred letters over a period of four years, with the last letter sent from his prison cell after his rampage at ESL. Black moved four times during those four years, but each time she did, Farley had managed to locate her address again.

In autumn of 1985, Laura Black asked the Human Resources Department at ESL for help. ESL ordered Farley to attend psychological counseling sessions, and although he attended these sessions, his harassment of Black continued. By spring of 1986, Farley was threatening fellow ESL employees, which, combined with his poor work performance, led ESL to terminate his employment in May 1986. He had been working at ESL for nine years. He spent several months stalking Black full time, then found work at a rival company.

Farley delighted in setting up impossible situations for Black, taking her lack of answer as an affirmative, and any communication, even negative, as encouragement. For example, he called and left a message to set up a date, which she ignored. Since she didn't say no, he showed up at her door in anticipation. When she told him to go away, he took it as proof that she was playing games with him. There was also evidence that Farley tried testing code combinations for hours on a garage door opener trying to open Black's garage. He also once tried to rent the adjoining unit to Black's in the same complex, forcing Black to move away.

Farley continued to write letters to Black in 1987. He wrote in one such letter, "... The shit has hit the fan... all because you thought I'm a joke and refuse to listen or understand that I am gravely serious." By this time, Farley had lost his house due to foreclosure and was under investigation by the IRS for owing taxes. However, his harassment never stopped.

In January 1988, Black found a package on her car windshield. Inside was a note from Farley, with a copy of her house key.

Shooting at E.S.L.

Black filed for a temporary restraining order against Richard Farley on February 2, 1988 and it was granted by a family court judge. A court date was set for February 17, 1988 to see if the restraining order should be made permanent.

Farley purchased a shotgun along with various other weapons and equipment. Numerous pistols were also at his disposal along with a total of over 3,000 rounds of extra ammunition. The restraining order did not prevent him from buying weapons during that time. He also owned a variety of other weapons which were not present during the shooting at ESL, including a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun and a Ruger .22LR carbine. On February 9, 1988, he left a package with Black's attorney, claiming to have evidence that he and Black had a longstanding relationship. The package included items such as such as photographs of Black and defendant on dates, a garage door opener to Black’s house, and hotel and credit card receipts. Farley even claimed that Black kept a secret stash of cocaine that they shared once. Black's attorney dismissed the package as utter fabrications.

One day before the court date, on February 16, 1988, Richard Farley drove his motorhome to the E.S.L. parking lot in Sunnyvale, California. He later claimed he waited for Black to leave work so he could convince her to rescind the restraining order. If she refused, he would kill himself. At about 3 p.m., Richard Farley loaded up his various guns, including a Benelli semiautomatic shotgun, a .22-250 rifle with a scope, a pump-action shotgun, a Sentinel .22 WMR revolver, a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, a Browning .380 ACP pistol, and a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol. Along with having a foot-long buck knife and smoke bomb, he put on an ammunition vest, inserted earplugs, and put on a leather glove.

Carrying over 1000 round of ammunition with him, he then approached the building while shooting toward bystanders. He entered into a side door by shooting through the glass, and shot at employees he encountered while heading toward Black's office on the second floor. Several employees were killed by his shots as he made his way through his former employer's building. Arriving at Black's office, he opened her door which she slammed in his face. He fired one shot through the door, which missed Black. The second shot hit her left shoulder and sent her unconscious to the floor. Farley moved on.

Farley then held police SWAT team at bay for five hours by moving from room to room so the SWAT snipers could not target him. Meanwhile, Black regained consciousness and managed to stop her wound from further bleeding while she and other survivors hid from Farley. Eventually Black and other survivors escaped, and Farley surrendered to police after requesting a sandwich and a soft drink. A total of seven people were killed by Farley with four more wounded, including Black. A total of 98 rounds were fired in E.S.L. by Farley.

Aftermath

The next day, court commissioner Lois Kittle made the restraining order against Farley permanent. Commissioner Kittle, through tears, offered this comment: "Pieces of paper do not stop bullets."

Laura Black survived, but was hospitalized for nineteen days. She continued to work for the same company. Farley wrote her yet again from his prison cell, claiming that she had finally won.

During trial, Farley admitted to the killings, but pleaded "not guilty", claiming that he never planned to kill but only wished to get Black's attention or commit suicide in front of her for rejecting him. His attorney claimed that Farley never was a violent man and only had his judgment temporarily clouded by his obsession with Laura Black, and that Farley will likely never kill again.

The prosecution documented every step of the stalking, produced all the letters he sent, and documented his shotgun and ammunition purchases a week before his rampage at E.S.L., as well as his other weapons. All this amounted to extensive planning, which was evidence of premeditation.

On October 21, 1991, Farley was convicted of all seven counts of first degree murder. Superior Court Judge Joseph Biafore Jr. sentenced Farley to death. Due to California law, there are several automatic appeals. As of 2009, Farley is still serving his time in San Quentin Prison. Prior to the shooting, Farley had no criminal record.

On July 2, 2009 the California Supreme Court upheld Farley's death sentence (People v. Farley (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1053).

In the wake of this case and the high profile murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, California passed the first anti-stalking laws in the nation.

Adaptations

A movie, I Can Make You Love Me (also known as Stalking of Laura Black in the United Kingdom) was made in 1993. Brooke Shields played Laura Black and Richard Thomas played Richard Farley.

The shooting incident is also the subject of a chapter of the book Chinese Playground: A Memoir by Bill Lee, as well as a chapter in Obsession by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker.