Police seek reason for triple slaying

By DENNIS AKIZUKI and SANDRA GONZALES

June 23, 2000 Web posted at: 4:43 PM EDT (2043 GMT)

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SAN LEANDRO, California (San Jose Mercury News) -- Angered by a surprise inspection, the owner of a small San Leandro sausage factory fatally ``ambushed'' three inspectors, fired shots as he chased a fourth down city streets and then returned to his business and pumped more bullets into the slumped bodies, police said one day after the unprecedented attack.

Wednesday's violence stunned state and federal officials. Law enforcement authorities sought an explanation for why Stuart Alexander -- frustrated with government regulators and running his factory without proper permits -- would kill the inspectors.

The son of one of the victims said his father was so concerned about Alexander that he recently asked police to meet him at the Santos Linguisa Factory. Police confirmed that Tom Quadros, a federal meat inspector, requested that police stand by during a March 9 inspection but said there wasn't any incident.

On a voice mail message left for his son the day of the shootings, Quadros gave no hint that he was concerned about inspecting the plant again, said his son, Chris.

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The victims were Quadros, 52, of Hayward, a U.S. Department of Agriculture compliance officer; Jeannie Hillery, 56, of Alameda, a federal compliance officer; and Bill Shaline, 57, of Sacramento, a state Department of Food and Agriculture meat inspector. Police are withholding the name of the second state inspector, who was not injured.

``There is no reason to take somebody's life over bad sausage,'' said Chris Quadros, 22. ``It's absolutely juvenile. It's like gang members killing each other over Nikes.''

State and federal officials said they had never heard of a meat inspector being killed in the line of duty.

A police officer uses a bloodhound to search for evidence near the crime scene

``This is an unspeakably barbarous act,'' Gov. Gray Davis said Thursday. ``These investigators were working hard, doing their jobs, protecting California consumers. I am sure that law enforcement will do everything in its power to bring those responsible to justice.''

In a prepared statement, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman said he was ``shocked and deeply saddened'' by the ``horrific tragedy.''

``We often take their hard work and diligence for granted, never expecting them to face danger in the line of duty,'' Glickman said.

Alexander, 39, who is facing three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, is due to be arraigned today in Hayward Superior Court. The possibility of federal charges awaits a meeting between the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.

Alexander, a well-known San Leandro resident who ran for mayor in 1998, had a longstanding gripe against inspectors, who apparently had shut down his factory a number of times over the years.

``He never seemed like a fanatic,'' said Rubin Vargas, proprietor of Chelsies Guns and Gunsmiths in San Leandro, a friend for about 20 years. ``He's a hunter and a fisherman. He liked the outdoors.''

``This is all so surprising,'' Vargas said. ``That is what's bothersome.''

However, Chris Quadros said his father would talk about a ``rude'' owner of a San Leandro sausage factory, but never by name.

``He was totally uncooperative,'' Chris Quadros said of that owner. ``(He felt) rules and regulations weren't meant to bother him.''

Two days before the killings, Shaline was asked to inspect the San Leandro plant with another state worker who had gone there Monday and found that the owner was making cured and smoked meats without a state license, according to officials.

The deadly rampage was touched off when the four inspectors made their surprise visit Wednesday.

Alexander wasn't at the business, which his family has operated for three generations, so an employee let the inspectors inside.

When Alexander returned a short time later, he and the inspectors clashed.

``We don't know exactly what transpired between (them),'' San Leandro police Lt. Marc DeCoulode said. ``I don't think it was a violent argument, but there definitely was some kind of disagreement.''

Alexander went inside his office, about 10 feet away, and allegedly removed at least one handgun from a locked cabinet and returned to a retail sales area. Three handguns were later recovered at the scene.

Shortly afterward, Alexander, standing in front of the only doorway to the retail area, gunned down the three inspectors, police said. All suffered multiple wounds, according to police Sgt. Chris Lux.

``This was a very fast-acting scene,'' Lux said. ``I would not call it a rage, but this was a man who knew what he was doing.''

Alexander allegedly then went outside and chased the fourth inspector down nearby streets, firing at least five times. The suspect apparently gave up the pursuit after less than a quarter-mile and returned to the factory.

Alexander then shot each victim again, investigators said.

``There were head shots, but I would not call it a coup de grace,'' Lux said.

Investigators found at least 17 shell casings, from 9mm and .380-caliber handguns, scattered about the building and the streets.

According to protocol, inspectors who are threatened are to notify the U.S. Inspector General's Office, which will coordinate protection with the FBI and local police.

The Inspector General's Office did not receive any information about threats Alexander may have made beforehand against Quadros or any other inspectors, according to David Dickson, special agent in charge of the Inspector General's Office for the USDA's Western Region in San Francisco. Dickson said he had not heard about the March 9 inspection mentioned by Quadros' son and San Leandro police.

Alexander has a history of reported violence, which previously led to criminal charges of burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and felony battery on an elderly man involving a 1996 beating of his 75-year-old neighbor, Clifford Berg, according to records.

But charges were dropped just as the case was headed for a jury trial when Berg and Alexander settled a civil suit brought by Berg after the assault. Alexander wound up paying $10,000 to Berg.

Margaret Berg, Clifford Berg's wife for 53 years, declined comment Thursday other than to say: ``I've always been leery of that man. That's the truth.''

In 1993, Alexander was arrested on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute and lewd behavior, but those cases, too, were dismissed.

Plagued by debtors, Alexander filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and then in 1999. Both cases were closed. And he had been sued numerous times for allegedly defaulting on personal loans.

Attorney James Crew, who represented Alexander in the Berg criminal case and in some of the civil suits, described Alexander as someone with a ``personality that is a little tense sometimes. ... He's very strong-willed and passionate about certain things. He didn't like people taking advantage of him or the various government agencies that would become involved in his businesses.''

Crew said he had heard from one of Alexander's friends and his mother, who was distraught over the shooting. ``She asked me what she could do to help and asked me to be available,'' Crew said. But he said Alexander had not contacted him.

Some San Leandro residents and friends of Alexander's commented that the killings were just the latest in a string of tragedies to beset the family. Steffen Alexander, Stuart's older brother, was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on Lake Chabot Road and ran head-on into a car in the late 1980s. Herman ``Tweetie'' Alexander, Stuart's father, died in 1993, and Stanley Alexander, Stuart's younger brother, was hit by a train and killed in 1997.

``There are certain families in the world that just get an inordinate amount of tragedy. That's just what happened here,'' said Steve Chandler, 40, who has known the Alexander family since high school.

Jake Francisco, a childhood friend of ``Tweetie'' Alexander, said the Alexanders were a ``nice family. There's no one in that family that could even think of doing anything like this. I knew the grandfather. I knew the aunts. This was a nice family.''

But Francisco, the executor of Herman Alexander's estate, added that Stuart had been different.

``From his police record, that just tells you what kind of person he is,'' Francisco said. ``From his assault charges and his other charges ... he's just got no respect for the law. He just couldn't learn.''

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