Victims in mass shooting at UPS facility in SF file lawsuits

Sandy Lim is the widow of Benson Louie who was fatally shot inside the UPS building on June, 14, 2017 in San Francisco, Calif. Sandy Lim is the widow of Benson Louie who was fatally shot inside the UPS building on June, 14, 2017 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle / / Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle / / Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Victims in mass shooting at UPS facility in SF file lawsuits 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

Despite the presence of metal detectors and security guards at a San Francisco UPS facility, an armed employee easily walked into the building, killing three co-workers and wounding two others in June — a shooting that should have been prevented, attorneys for the victims and their families said.

Relatives of two of the slain drivers, two wounded employees and 28 survivors Tuesday sued United Parcel Service, Allied Universal Security Services and the owner of the building at 16th Street and San Bruno Avenue on Potrero Hill.

“This was entirely preventable,” said J. Kevin Morrison, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. “If Allied and UPS had done their jobs that day, we wouldn’t be here.”

The lawsuits, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, seek wrongful death damages for the loved ones of Benson Louie and Michael “Big Mike” Lefiti.

The wounded survivors, Alvin Chen and Edgar Perez, along with the traumatized witnesses, and others who were injured but not shot, are seeking damages for their ordeals.

Many of the people there that day have not returned to their jobs, Morrison said.

“UPS is deeply concerned about our employees and their families,” company officials said in a statement. “We are reviewing the filings and do not comment on active litigation.”

Allied Universal declined to comment on the lawsuits, citing pending litigation. Efforts to reach Valacal Co., the building’s owner, were not successful.

UPS employees had complained about security problems at the building before Jimmy Lam carried out the deadly rampage against his colleagues on June 14, the lawsuit alleges.

Before the shooting, unauthorized people had been allowed into the building, Morrison said, posing a risk to workers there. He added that UPS should have known Lam “posed a serious risk to himself and others” before the mass killing.

Lam had spoken to at least one employee about his personal problems, his struggles with alcohol and a drunken driving conviction. In the days before the shooting, Lam had seemed especially despondent, said Shaun Vu, a veteran driver who spoke to The Chronicle the day after the killings.

Lam shot himself in the head as police converged on the building on the morning of the attack. He was armed with a MAC-10 submachine gun and a pistol, attorneys said.

Most confounding to the families was the presence of metal detectors and security guards that failed to stop Lam. It’s not clear if the security was there to prevent package theft or to protect the employees. Morrison hopes some of those questions will be answered through the litigation.

“Why go though the trouble of installing and purchasing metal detectors, hiring guards and not checking? It’s senseless,” he said. “So it’s a wake-up call, hopefully to UPS facilities across the country to get serious about this stuff and actually do their jobs and secure the workplace.”

One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, Sandy Lim, had dropped her 18-year-old daughter off at the airport for a trip to Disneyland that morning. While heading to work, she got a distressing phone call from a friend saying there had been a shooting at her husband’s workplace.

Lim’s husband, Benson Louie, who was the father of her two teenage daughters, wasn’t picking up his cell phone. Lim, 48, immediately called her daughter to tell her to get off the flight at San Francisco International Airport and come home.

In the minutes and hours that followed, the family learned Louie, 50, was among the dead.

“Both me and my daughters are trying to support each other by not showing the weakness of ourselves right now. We try not to cry,” Lim, unable to hold back her tears, said while describing the weeks of anguish following Louie’s death. “Sometimes we can’t help it.”

Lim said things have gotten a little better in recent days. Her daughters — Melanie, 14, and 18-year-old Elizabeth — have gone back to school, and she has returned to work.

“Sometimes I try to avoid thinking about it,” Lim said. “The things that I see, the things that I do remind me of him.”

Louie was the first one to die that day.

Lam walked into the third floor of the warehouse where drivers and employees were holding a morning meeting before heading out on their routes.

He pulled out a gun and shot Louie point-blank in the head before turning his gun on the other employees, witnesses said.

Two other victims, Wayne Chan, 56, and Lefiti, 46, were killed in the street as they ran out of the building. Other drivers scattered, some diving into trucks or fleeing onto city streets as the violence erupted.

Investigators still have not determined a motive for the attack, and it’s likely no one will ever know what drove Lam to kill.

Lim said she never heard her husband mention Lam’s name.

Louie was a volleyball coach and a mentor to young people, and wouldn’t hesitate to help anyone, no matter how big the project.

He spent the last two weekends of his life helping his optometrist’s mother replace her water-damaged floor, his family said.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Lim said. “He was such a nice and healthy guy, and all of a sudden he’s not here anymore.”

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky