7 dead, 1 wounded in Calif. post office shooting (merged threads)

[rick_reno]

YAPS - Yet Another Postal Shooting

GOLETA, Calif. - A person opened fire at a postal station on Monday night, killing three people and critically wounding a fourth, authorities said.

The shooting took place about 9:15 p.m., Capt. Keith Cullom of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department told The Associated Press.

He said two people died at the scene, and a nursing supervisor said a third was pronounced dead at a hospital. The fourth was listed in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head.

The station is located across the street from a fire station, just a few blocks from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Police had cordoned off the area about a half-mile from the university and were searching for the shooter late Monday night.

Postal employee believed to be shooter
Sheriff’s spokesman Erik Raney told KCAL-TV the shooter was believed to be a postal employee. He said the shooting took place at a station where mail is handled.

Postal officials said no one was immediately available Monday to discuss the shootings, which took place about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The station is located across the street from a fire station, and Cullom said witnesses ran there immediately after gunfire broke out.

Two women were taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where nursing supervisor L. Perry said one of them was pronounced dead upon arrival. The other was hospitalized in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head, Perry said.

 

[UWstudent]

gone postal

really.. what does go on inside the post office?

 

[Maxwell]

Isint there a rule about no guns on federal turf?
Howed they get shot?

 

[AStone]

The sad thing is, this will motivate the anti's to spout more about gun control, about how worthless and dangerous guns are.

Yet let 4 die in an auto accident caused by a looney driver on a cell phone, and not one of them will scream, "Ban the cars!" or "Ban the cellphone while driving!"

Nem

 

[Janitor]

Maxwell has it right.

Ficiticious story - guns aren't allowed in the Post Office. Of course, the story might be off on the facts (I know ... hard to believe) and this may have happened outside the Post Office in a non posted area.

 

[griz]

According to the radio report I just heard, this one is a little different. The Postal worker who snapped was female. Murder then suicde is usually a male thing.

 

[Herself]

Oh, Griz, that is sooooo old-fashioned!

Darnedest things, though, how this always seems to happen at places well-known to be off-limits for the peacable bearing of arms. Almost as if...geee...the "crazed" shooter knew the odds were good of bagging the maximum honor guard for the next life.

Or that the odds were good of getting maximum coverage in the press.

Anyone who has seen how these big mail-handling centers are built, with one-way mirror-windned walkways above the pressured horde of low-level workers sorting and hauling can begin to get a glimpse of why sometimes the workers snap: it's about like a prison in look and tone. It might be better to let 'em all be armed. At least it would limit the damage done by Lone Gunmen.

--Herself

 

[medic_guns]

Workplace policies that disarm are stupid. Find a way to carry covertly, and never, ever talk about guns. I need to go home to my wife and child every night. I don't have time to worry about stupid workplace policies that disarm. SWAT will just sit outside as a murderous villian walks around shooting the innocent. Remember Columbine?

 

[scubie02]

Clearly this story can't be true, after all, its illegal to have guns in the post office...

I too wonder what it is about the post office. I remember Drew Carry used to have a routine where he talked about that. "Local, Out of Town, Local, Out of Town...oh, the pressure!"

 

[SIOP]

really.. what does go on inside the post office?

You really don't want to know. I worked for the USPS for five and a half years. Made right at 50K, worked maybe three hours a day on a busy day. Four weeks of vacation, two weeks of sick leave, 10 holidays, etc etc etc. It got to the point where I would walk in, look around, and wonder what in the hell I was doing there with all the psychopaths. The ones that threaten to kill you for doing your job, that defecate on the walls and in the mail tubs to show someone something, there's no end to the insanity at the post office. I miss the money and the benefits, but it's not a place for a normal person to work. The workforce is typically what you would find living in a trailer park and working at Wal-Mart, but making three times as much money.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

Someone Went Postal, Seven Dead

Happened in Cali this morning. Anyone know what kind of gun it was? Just curious to know what kind of gun the left will be trying to ban based on this event.

 

[kimbernut]

Post Office

One day they'll realize they've had it backwards all these years. It should be that you must be armed to enter the post office.

 

[GTSteve03]

Happened in Cali this morning. Anyone know what kind of gun it was? Just curious to know what kind of gun the left will be trying to ban based on this event.

No matter what the gun will turn out to be I'm sure we'll either hear "AK47 assault rifle" or "Glock 9mm automatic handgun" from at least one news source.

 

[fourays2]

how could this have happened? aren't guns already banned from postal facilities?

 

[Leatherneck]

Unusual: it was a woman shooter according to radio reports.

TC

 

[rick_reno]

7 dead, including shooter, in postal shooting

This will no doubt result in the call for fewer post offices Doesn't Kalif have some of the strictest gun laws on the books? How can this happen there?

GOLETA, Calif. - A female ex-postal worker opened fire at a mail processing plant, killing six people and critically wounding another before committing suicide, authorities said early Tuesday.

Deputies responding to a call of shots fired about 9:15 p.m. Monday found two people dead outside the plant.

Two wounded women were located inside and were taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. One died and the other was listed in critical condition early Tuesday with a gunshot wound to the head.

Nearly five hours later, deputies found four additional bodies, including one believed to be the female shooter, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson said. The shooter, who was not identified, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, he said.

“We do not believe there is any additional threat to the community,” Anderson said.

Warning for residents
The Monday night rampage sent dozens of employees running from the sprawling distribution center and prompted authorities to warn nearby residents to stay indoors.

Postal employee Charles Kronick told KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara that he was inside the building when shots rang out. Some 50 to 60 employees were seen running from the plant.

“I heard something that sounded like a pop, and then I heard a couple seconds later, another pop, pop, pop,” Kronick said.

His boss came running over and told him to get out of the building, Kronick said, adding “We all hightailed it out real quick.”

The victims’ names were not immediately released. Sheriffs’ Sgt. Erik Raney said all the victims were believed to be current employees.

A call to a U.S. Postal Service spokesman was not immediately returned early Tuesday.

The 200,000-square-foot facility is located just a few blocks from the University of California, Santa Barbara. About 300 people are employed at the plant in Goleta, about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

 

[bogie]

This couldn't happen. They aren't allowed to have guns.

That said, you take a buncha military vets, and put 'em in a bureaucracy run by petty civilians, and you're gonna have friction.

 

[griz]

Oh, Griz, that is sooooo old-fashioned!

What they told me must be true, I've turned into a geezer! I long for the old days when mass murder was not committed by the "fairer sex". (please realize that is more a comment on the violent nature of men rather than anything)

But seriously, that's a good point about the gun free victim zones. When somebody snaps and tries to shoot a bunch of people at a gun show is when I will believe that guns themselves are the problem.

 

[TexasRifleman]

The learned opinion is that concealed carry by a permit holder IS NOT ILLEGAL in a Post Office.
One article showing the line of reasoning....

http://www.thegunzone.com/rkba/rtc-usps.html

Probably doesn't apply to employees.....


Edit: So now this doesn't actually appear to have been as a Post Office but rather some off site processing facility.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Guns in the Post Office - Legal for CHL holders. Probably doesn't apply to employees.

http://www.thegunzone.com/rkba/rtc-usps.html

 

[Sistema1927]

These people are dead because their employer mandated that they be defenseless at work.

 

[Master Blaster]

Surely this was done with a 50 BMG assault rifle with 30 round magazines fired from the hip. Or some other evil firearm, after all this woman was a law abiding citizen. Surely the siren song of an evil assault weapon convinced her to go on this killing spree.

Of course it could have been because of the easy availibility of ammunition that doesnt have serial numbers on it. If only the gun store that sold her the ammo ahd recorded the ammo seriall numbers in a book....surely that would have prevented her from freaking out...errr I mean the gun from shooting people with evil sprayed fire.....

I hear the sound of little liberal feet running to the state house to pass a new ban of something.

 

[TexasRifleman]

True. Why can't these people just go on a good old fashioned axe wielding spree for a change.

What happened to the good old days? And if they did, would the media freak out and call for axe bans?

 

[xd9fan]

not an axe ban. They would hit states like California with child safety features like rubber-tipped axes

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Just curious to know what kind of gun the left will be trying to ban based on this event.

It wouldn't matter. Sarah Brady's husband was shot by a .22 - which led to banning a lot of guns, but not .22s (yet).