Ex-postal employee fatally shoots 5

GOLETA, Calif. (AP) — A former postal worker who had been put on medical leave for psychological problems fatally shot five persons at a huge mail-processing center and then killed herself in what was thought to be the nation’s deadliest workplace shooting carried out by a woman.

The rampage — the nation’s first deadly postal shooting in nearly eight years — sent employees running from the sprawling Southern California complex and prompted authorities to warn nearby residents to stay indoors as they searched for the shooter.

The 44-year-old woman, identified as Jennifer Sanmarco of Grants, N.M., had not worked at the plant for more than two years but managed to get inside the fenced and guarded Santa Barbara Processing and Distribution Center. She drove through a gate by following another car closely, then got in the front door by taking an employee’s electronic identification badge at gunpoint, authorities said. The employee was not hurt.

The woman opened fire with a 9 mm handgun, reloading at least once during the rampage, said Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson.

Authorities found two persons dead outside the plant. Another body was just outside the door, and a wounded woman was just inside. Three more bodies — including that of the shooter — were farther inside.

The wounded woman, Charlotte Colton, 44, was hospitalized in critical condition. She had been shot in the head.

All the victims were thought to be workers at the postal center.

Postal Inspector Randy DeGasperin said Sanmarco had been placed on medical leave in 2003 for psychological reasons. He said she had been removed from the building by sheriff’s deputies that year for acting strangely. She made no threats, but other workers feared she might hurt herself, authorities said.

Mr. DeGasperin said it was not clear whether she targeted certain people or fired at random, but “chances are she might have known her victims.”

Investigators would not discuss a motive for the attack.

As the shooting began, some of the 80 or so workers streamed out of the building.

“I was dumping mail on a belt when the gunshots suddenly ’boom, boom, boom, boom’” said postal worker Alger Busante, 56. He rushed out of the building.

“It is really very shocking. This is a peaceful place,” Mr. Busante said.

Postmaster General John E. Potter said counselors would be available to the victims’ families and to employees.

“Our heartfelt prayers and condolences go out to the families of the victims and to our employees who have suffered through this tragic incident,” he said in Washington.

It was the deadliest shooting at any U.S. workplace since 2003, when 48-year-old Doug Williams shot 14 co-workers, killing five, and then committed suicide at a Lockheed Martin Corp. aircraft parts plant in Meridian, Miss.

It also was the bloodiest rampage at a U.S. postal installation since 1986, when a mailman killed 14 persons in Edmond, Okla., and then took his own life.