Published on 30 January 2006, Associated Press

Six Dead in Calif. Post Office Shooting

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 believed to be the nation's deadliest workplace shooting ever carried out by a woman.

The 44-year-old woman had not worked at the plant for more than two years but still managed to get inside the fenced and guarded Santa Barbara Processing and Distribution Center. She drove through a gate by following closely behind 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.

Published on 1 February 2006, THE TORONTO STAR

Woman kills 5 at U.S. postal centre

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 centre and then killed herself in what was believed to be the deadliest workplace shooting in the United States ever carried out by a woman.

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

The rampage sent employees running from the sprawling complex and prompted authorities to warn nearby residents to stay indoors as they searched for the killer.

Published on 1 February 2006, Houston Chronicle

Six Dead, One Critical in Calif. Shooting

GOLETA, Calif. - When sheriff's deputies were called to take Jennifer Sanmarco from her job at a mail sorting facility here two years ago, it was because her colleagues feared she might hurt herself. But when Sanmarco returned this week, it was her former colleagues she was bent on attacking.

Interviews with authorities in this picturesque coastal community and with people in New Mexico, where Sanmarco moved in 2004, give a picture of a woman exhibiting increasingly bizarre behavior after losing her job.

"We weren't sure what she was going to do next," said Terri Gallegos, deputy clerk for the city of Milan, N.M., where Sanmarco applied for a business license in 2004 for a publication called "The Racist Press" that she said she planned to launch. Another time she said she wanted to register a cat food business.

Published on 1 February 2006, ABC news

Sixth Shot Postal Worker Dies of Injuries

Monday night, Sanmarco fatally shot six postal employees at the mail processing plant before committing suicide in what is believed to be the deadliest workplace shooting by a woman. One of the victims had been hospitalized in critical condition after the attack but died of her injuries Wednesday, hospital officials said.

Authorities said it was unclear whether Sanmarco targeted specific employees at the postal center, but U.S. Postal Inspector Randy DeGasperin said "chances are" she knew the people she was shooting at.

Published on 1 February 2006, The Mercury News

Investigators confirm 7th slaying linked to Calif postal killer

GOLETA, Calif. - Investigators tracking the path of an ex-postal worker who carried out a deadly attack on a mail-sorting facility determined that a former neighbor slain at a condominium was also a victim of the suicidal rampage, authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities here and in New Mexico described past bizarre behavior by Jennifer San Marco, and an ex-colleague said she was prone to racist remarks, but her motive remained a mystery as a sixth postal worker died of wounds and confirmation of the link to the ex-neighbor's death raised the number of San Marco's victims to seven.

The former neighbor, Beverly Graham, 54, was found dead in her condominium Tuesday, along with several 9 mm shell casings, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson said.

"The shell casings found match those found at the postal distribution center," he said.

The sheriff said neighbors of Graham told investigators they heard the sound of gunfire on Monday sometime between 7:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. The postal center attack began just before 9 p.m.

Published on 3 February 2006, The New York Times

Woman in California Postal Shootings Had History of Bizarre Behavior

GRANTS, N.M., Feb. 2 — Two months before Jennifer San Marco fatally shot six postal workers in Goleta, Calif., and killed herself, the police here were alerted to her bizarre behavior, the office manager of a mental health clinic said.

The manager, Darlene Hayes, who works at Cibola Counseling Services here, said she saw Ms. San Marco, 44, alone in a post office parking lot, kneeling at her car and talking to herself.

When she asked whether Ms. San Marco was all right, Ms. Hayes said, Ms. San Marco replied, "They pray before they get in."

Ms. San Marco told Ms. Hayes that she was talking about her brother and her sister, who she said were there with her.

Ms. Hayes, who has worked at mental health clinics for 18 years, called the police because she thought Ms. San Marco needed immediate psychological attention. After waiting several minutes, Ms. Hayes left the post office, anticipating that the police would help Ms. San Marco obtain a mental health evaluation.

"It seemed liked she was acting delusional," Ms. Hayes said. "I wanted the police to make contact with her and hold her for 24 hours so they could determine whether she needed a physician."

Lt. Maxine Spidle of the police said the department had no record of Ms. Hayes's call.

Ms. Hayes's encounter was hardly unique in this ramshackle dust-swept strip of a town near Milan, where Ms. San Marco had lived for the last two years. To her neighbors, she was the woman who shouted furiously to herself, who ordered food at restaurants and bolted out the door before eating it, who knelt in prayer at the roadside and who peeled off her clothes in random parking lots.

Nobody knew where she came from or what she was doing here. People just knew there was something wrong.

"She would just come in here and stare at me," Sonya Salazar, who works in Milan Village Hall, said. "We knew she had mental problems. We just felt sorry for her."

Not everyone here had unsettling encounters with Ms. San Marco. For more than two years, Abel Ortega delivered propane gas to her. Mr. Ortega said she was polite and paid her bills promptly. Still, he said, he could not help noticing her behavior.

"We'd see her praying by the road, or talking to herself," he said. "She had this imaginary friend."