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Employee found dead on Apple campus identified; company offers sympathies

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a dead body and firearm were found in a conference room at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters Wednesday morning. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner has now officially ruled the death a suicide and identified the Apple employee as 25-year-old Edward Mackowiak, according to The Mercury News. As of this writing, Apple has not revealed Mackowiak’s role in the company.

Apple did offer a statement on Thursday, as reported by Matt Keller, a local ABC reporter on the scene.

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“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of a young and talented coworker,” the statement reads. “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends, including the many people he worked with here at Apple.”

The campus at 1 Infinite Loop remains open, and officials said there was no additional risk.

“Through further investigation, they determined there [were] no other individuals involved and they believe it was an isolated incident. There was no one else on campus or in the public at risk,” Sgt. Andrea Urena of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said, according to NBC Bay Area.

Law enforcement sources told TMZ that a call was placed at 8:38 a.m. PT on Wednesday, reporting a “possible suicide.” The dispatch call alluded to an argument on campus involving a female employee, who sustained a head injury — possibly from a gunshot wound — while being escorted out by security. It was not immediately clear what happened to the female employee mentioned in that call. The Santa Clara County Fire Department was also called to the scene initially, but never actually entered the campus.

The news comes a day after Apple announced its first year-over-year revenue decline in 13 years. Citing falling iPhone demand and slowing Mac sales, the consumer electronics giant announced revenues for the second quarter of $50.6 billion, a 13 percent decline from last year. The quarter’s net income also went down from last year’s $13.6 billion to $10.5 billion, which comes out to $1.90 a share. The company’s gross margin dipped from 2015’s 40.8 percent, to 39.4 percent.

Apple representatives did not reply to a Digital Trends request for more information. We will update this story with more details as they are released to the public.

Updated on 04-28-2016 by Williams Pelegrin: Included information on the employee’s name and cause of death.

Will Fulton
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…
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