Goleta postal facility shootings

Goleta postal facility shootings
Location	Goleta, California, United States
Date	January 30, 2006 (2006-01-30) ~7:00 a.m. (UTC-09)
Target	Santa Barbara Processing and Distribution Center
Attack type	Mass shooting, murder-suicide
Weapons	S&W Model 915 (9mm)
Deaths	8 (including the perpetrator)
Motive	Mental illness suspected

The Goleta postal facility shootings were a spree killing by Jennifer San Marco (December 6, 1961 – January 30, 2006), a former US Postal Service employee who shot and killed seven people in Goleta, California on January 30, 2006, before taking her own life.

Spree shooting

On January 30, 2006, San Marco shot and killed her one-time neighbor, Beverly Graham, and then drove to the mail processing plant at which she previously worked in Goleta, California. San Marco entered the sprawling plant by driving through a gate behind another car. She gained entry to the building by taking an employee's identification badge at gunpoint in order to gain an electronic access to the secure staff entrance. She then told the employee to leave the premises. She then shot and killed six employees of the plant with a pistol before taking her own life.

In the parking lot, San Marco shot Ze Fairchild, 37, in the head. She turned to Maleka Higgins and shot her at point-blank range. She then shot Nicola Grant. Some workers, after hearing gunshots, went to the windows to see what was happening. San Marco turned to them and smiled.

San Marco entered the building, which had around 80 employees and continuing firing. Walking into the complex, she shot superviser Charlotte Colton. Colton was dragged into a room by a coworker, where she died. San Marco approached her old work station, encountering Lupe Swartz, who saw her coming. San Marco rapidly fired four shots into Swartz, killing her. Dexter Shannon, an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War with grandchildren, was working with headphones on, therefore he didn't hear San Marco coming or the gunshots. He was fatally shot at point-blank range.

Jennifer San Marco then turned the gun on herself, fatally killing herself. The was still clutched in her hands after she died, which made the police pry her fingers off the gun.

San Marco apparently believed that she was the target of a conspiracy centered at the Goleta postal facility, according to writings recovered from her house in New Mexico. A spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office speculated that San Marco's paranoia and history of mental illness may have motivated her to commit the murders.

Victims

Santa Barbara

• Beverly Graham, 54

Post office shooting

• Ze Fairchild, 37 years old.
• Meleka Higgins, 28 years old.
• Nicola Grant, 42 years old.
• Charlotte Colton, 44 years old.
• Lupe Swartz, 52 years old.
• Dexter Shannon, 57

Perpetrator

Jennifer San Marco
Born	Jennifer San Marco (1961-12-06)December 6, 1961
Died	January 30, 2006(2006-01-30) (aged 44) Goleta, California, United States
Cause of death	Suicide by gunshot
Occupation	Former postal worker

San Marco had previously worked as a dispatcher for the Santa Barbara Police Department in the mid-1990s, a job for which she underwent a background check and psychological evaluation. She left the job after several months, which was not unusual for the high-stress occupation. San Marco eventually went to work for the postal service as a clerk, but left on psychological disability following a 2003 incident in which she had to be removed from her workplace by police. San Marco subsequently moved to a small town in New Mexico sometime in 2004. According to colleagues, she had a history of making racially charged statements, and once attempted to start a publication entitled The Racist Press.

See also

• List of postal killings
• Going postal