Three agricultural inspectors shot dead at sausage factory

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - A shooting at a sausage factory left three agricultural inspectors dead Wednesday, and police took the factory's owner into custody, authorities said.

A fourth inspector escaped unharmed from the Santos Linguisa factory in San Leandro, about 20 miles southeast of San Francisco, San Leandro Police Lt. Dan Marchetti told The Daily Review of nearby Hayward.

The bodies of the three victims were found inside an office in the plant. Each was shot several times. They were two men and one woman, aged 30 to 50 years old, but were not identified, pending notification of their relatives.

The inspector who escaped told the police that the owner, 39-year-old Stuart Alexander, opened fire as the four visited the plant. The factory had recently been closed because of health violations.

Police took Alexander into custody for the shooting. Alexander, who ran for mayor of San Leandro in the 1990s, has had previous run-ins with the law. He was arrested in 1996 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse and other charges for allegedly attacking his neighbor, who was then 75 years old.

Police found guns inside the plant, but did not say if any were the murder weapon.