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Former postal worker kills five, then herself

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

The attack Monday night was the biggest bloodbath at a U.S. postal installation since a massacre 20 years ago helped give rise to the term "going postal."

Investigators would not discuss a motive for the attack.

The rampage - the nation's first deadly postal shooting in almost eight years - sent employees running from the Southern California complex and prompted authorities to warn nearby residents to stay indoors as they searched for the killer.

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, then got in the front door by taking an employee's electronic identification badge at gunpoint, authorities said. The employee was not hurt, authorities said. She opened fire with a 9mm handgun, reloading at least once, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson said.

Authorities found two people 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 killer - 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 postal center employees.

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 were afraid she might hurt herself, authorities said. DeGasperin said it was unclear if she targeted certain people.

Sanmarco was well-known to authorities in New Mexico. Last spring, the clerk's office in Milan, N.M., filed a complaint with police that she was harassing a worker. In nearby Grants, where she lived, Sanmarco was given a warning after police received complaints that she was nude at a gas station.

Those killed were Ze Fairchild, 37; Maleka Higgins, 28; Nicola Grant, 42; Guadalupe Swartz, 52; and Dexter Shannon, 57.

[Last modified February 1, 2006, 01:04:14]