TheGoleta postal facility shootingswere aspree killingperpetrated by Jennifer San Marco on January 30, 2006. San Marco, a formerUnited States Postal Serviceemployee, shot and killed six people inGoleta, California,before taking her own life. Prior to the Goleta shooting, she shot and killed a former neighbor in nearbySanta Barbara.
| Goleta postal facility shootings | |
|---|---|
| Location | Goleta, California,U.S. |
| Date | January 30, 2006 ~7:15 p.m. (UTC−09) |
| Target | Santa Barbara Processing and Distribution Center |
Attack type | Spree shooting,mass shooting,mass murder,murder-suicide |
| Weapons | S&W Model 915(9×19mm) |
| Deaths | 8 (7 at the post office, including the perpetrator and 1 in Santa Barbara) |
| Injured | 0 |
| Perpetrator | Jennifer San Marco |
| Motive | Unknown (likelymental illness,possibleracism,or possible revenge) |
Shootings
editKilled:
- Santa Barbara shooting:
- Beverly Graham, 54
- Post office shooting:
- Charlotte Colton, 44
- Ze Fairchild, 37
- Nicola Grant, 42
- Maleka Higgins, 28
- Dexter Shannon, 57
- Guadalupe Swartz, 52[1]
- Perpetrator:
- Jennifer San Marco, 44 (suicide)
On January 30, 2006, Jennifer San Marco drove to her formercondominiuminSanta Barbara, California,and killed Beverly Graham, a former neighbor with whom she had previously argued, with a shot to the head.[2]She then drove to the mail processing plant inGoleta.San Marco entered the sprawling plant's lot bytailgatinganother car as it passed through the gate. She gained entry to the building by taking an employee's identification badge at gunpoint in order to gain electronic access to the secure staff entrance. She then told the employee to leave; the worker was physically unharmed.[3]
At 9:00 p.m., in the building's parking lot, San Marco shot Ze Fairchild (37) in the head.[4]She turned to Maleka Higgins and shot her atpoint-blank range,then shot Nicola Grant. Some workers, after hearing gunshots, went to the windows to see what was happening. San Marco reportedly turned to them and smiled. Several employees fled to a nearby fire station.
San Marco entered the building (which had around eighty employees inside at the time) and shot supervisor Charlotte Colton in the head,[5]who was then dragged into a room by a co-worker. Colton would die two days later in Cottage Hospital.[6]San Marco headed to her former work station and encountered Guadalupe Swartz, who saw her coming and tried to flee. San Marco, however, rapidly fired four shots into Swartz, killing her. Dexter Shannon, aVietnam Warveteran with grandchildren, heard nothing of the gunshots as he was working with headphones on; he was fatally shot at point-blank range. San Marco then took her own life by shooting herself in the head.[7]
Aftermath
editGraham's body was linked to the shooting hours after it ended. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots at the condominium at around 7:15 p.m. that night. One victim, Charlotte Colton, had a funeral with over 1,200 mourners; Colton was buried at Cavalry Cemetery. Goleta's mayor, Jonny Wallis, held a news conference in which she praised the police response, condemned the shooting, and offered her condolences to its victims.[8]
Perpetrator
edit
Jennifer San Marcowas born inBrooklyn,New York, to Frank San Marco and Jeanette San Marco (née San Pietro). She went toEdward R. Murrow High School,later attendingBrooklyn College.She then studied natural resources management atRutgers Universitybut did not graduate. In 1989 San Marco came to California, where after studying she was hired as a guard at medium-securityChuckawalla Valley State PrisoninBlythe.She quit two days before her probationary period ended, never giving a reason why, but was described as a good worker.
San Marco held down a number of jobs, including a dispatcher for theSanta Barbara Police Departmentin the mid-1990s, a job for which she underwent a background check and psychological evaluation. She left the job after several months.[9]San Marco then worked at a high school serving lunch before quitting in 2000. She eventually bought a condominium and went to work for the Postal Service as a clerk. She left on psychological disability following a 2003 incident in which she was pulled out from under a mail-sorting machine and had to be wheeled from her workplace by police in handcuffs.[3]San Marco did return briefly, but was again removed from the building due to her erratic behavior and never returned. She was held at aVenturamental hospital for three days in February 2001.
In 2004 San Marco's car broke down inGrants, New Mexico,where she decided to stay. In the small town, San Marco earned a reputation for strange behavior, which included speaking (or sometimes furiously shouting) to herself, ordering food at restaurants and bolting out the door before eating it, stripping naked in public (often in random parking lots), kneeling and praying in random places (often at roadsides), talking to animaginary friend,screaming death threats, yelling profane rap lyrics and makingracistcomments. She began getting tattoos and showed them to neighbor Jeannie Steen. When Steen didn't react, San Marco walked around her in a circle and spat on the ground.
In July 2004 San Marco was denied a business license to begin publishing a periodical known asThe Racist Press.[10]At one point, she claimed she wanted to register a cat food business and was rejected because she lived in an unincorporated area ofCibola County.While being interviewed there, she would often talk to herself. After the rejection, San Marco would frequently come to the office and stare at an employee named Sonya Salazar. Salazar was told to hide when she came to the office. San Marco once made a rude accusation that Salazar had slept with someone; authorities were called. She also came into contact with authorities after she appeared naked at a gas station. She was clothed when the officers arrived and they ultimately let her off with a warning. These run-ins with authorities were frequent and she was once admonished for driving half-naked. San Marco sold her condominium and told people that she was going to visit a sister on theEast Coast.
In November, a mental health clinic manager named Darlene Hayes reported seeing San Marco alone in a post office parking lot kneeling at her car and talking to herself. When asked what she was doing, she replied, "They pray before they get in." She was supposedly talking about her sister and brother (who she apparently believed were there). Hayes called the police and left several minutes later. According to a police lieutenant, there was no record of Hayes' call. A man who deliveredpropane gasto San Marco and described her as polite, noted that she always paid her bills on time, though he had noticed her talking to an "imaginary friend."[11]
Possible motives and preparation
editSan Marco was apparently convinced that she was the target of a nefarious conspiracy centered at the Goleta postal facility, according to writings recovered from her home in New Mexico. A spokesman for theSanta Barbara County Sheriff's Officeconjectured that San Marco'sparanoiaand history of mental illness may have motivated her to commit the murders.[12]Racism was also a possible influence in the shooting, as six of the victims were minorities (three were black, one wasChinese-American,one wasHispanicand one wasFilipino). She may have also murdered Graham for personal reasons, as the two had previously quarreled. According to Graham's boyfriend, San Marco would often go outside and start singing loudly. Graham also complained to her brother that San Marco would come out and "rant and rave" in front of her building.[13]
Among San Marco's writings were error-laden explanations of various religions and a theory linking the U.S. government to serial killerDavid Berkowitz,theKu Klux Klanand racist murders.[14]A diary was found with over 100 pages of meticulously tracked, perceived slights and offenses she received from people. An auto body worker once said that San Marco claimed that the Postal Service mistreated her, but that she never said anything violent or talked about murder, but that they had to "pay", which may have indicated revenge as another possible motive.
San Marco purchased the murder weapon and ammunition from two different pawn shops (one in Grants, the other inGallup). She was able to do this with no problem, and passed background checks. She also got abuzz cuthairstyle, which left her barely recognizable (and may have helped her gain entry into the building to commit the shooting).[15]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Staff, Indy (2013-01-31)."The Goleta Postal Murders".The Santa Barbara Independent.Retrieved2023-06-19.
- ^"Killer's Behavior Had Grown More Bizarre, Authorities Say".Los Angeles Times.2006-02-02.Retrieved2024-10-19.
- ^abKasindorf, Martin (February 1, 2006)."Woman kills 5, self at postal plant".USA Today.RetrievedMay 6,2010.
- ^thejtal (2020-06-08)."Workplace Violence: Women As Victims And Perpetrators - TAL Global".Retrieved2024-10-19.
- ^"Postal killer believed she was target of a plot".NBC News.2006-02-04.Retrieved2024-10-19.
- ^"US ex-postal employee kills six".31 January 2006.
- ^"Seven dead in California postal shooting".CNN.Jan 31, 2006.Retrieved2022-06-11.
- ^"Mass Killer Had Been Put on Leave by Postal Center".Los Angeles Times.February 2006.
- ^"Postal Shooter's Bizarre Behavior".CBS News.February 2, 2006.
- ^Frosch, Dan (3 February 2006)."Woman in California Postal Shootings Had History of Bizarre Behavior".The New York Times.Retrieved8 February2017.
- ^Frosch, Dan (3 February 2006)."Woman in California Postal Shootings Had History of Bizarre Behavior".The New York Times.
- ^"Postal killer believed she was target of a plot".Associated Press.3 February 2006.Retrieved30 August2010.
- ^"Killer's Behavior Had Grown More Bizarre, Authorities Say".Los Angeles Times.2 February 2006.
- ^"Female Postal Worker Jennifer San Marco Goes on Mass Shooting Rampage".
- ^"Postal killer believed she was target of a plot".NBC News.4 February 2006.