(CNN) 7 Dead in California Postal Shooting

[SKKY]

What the hell is going on with the USPS?


LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A female former employee opened fire at a 24-hour postal service sorting facility in Goleta, California, killing six people and critically wounding another, before turning the gun on herself, authorities said early Tuesday.

"That's what we believe," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson said.

The shootings took place around 9:15 p.m. Monday (12:15 a.m. ET Tuesday).

SWAT teams found seven people dead inside the building where about 40 to 50 people had been working, Anderson said. The shootings took place "at different areas around the building," he added.

"One of the deceased appeared to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound," he said. "We have concluded the search inside, and we do not believe there is any further threat to the community."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/31/postal.shooting/index.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[krkaufman]

3. .

dude

[CBGLuthier]

8. Know how you can tell if you are on FR or DU?

You can't.

Not much.

Any more.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. I KNOW there's no direct correlation, but were there ANY PS shootings...

...during the Clinton Admin?:shrug:

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Yes

I think it was the rage back in the 90's. We haven't had one in a while though.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. If memory serves, the "go postal" meme started under Clinton

[UpInArms]

17. 1986 - RayGun administration - Edmond, Oklahoma

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_postal

Going postal is an American English slang term, used as a verb meaning to commit murder, mass murder or a killing spree in the workplace, generally by a current or former employee. The term derives from a series of incidents from 1986 onwards in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, and members of the police or general public.

On August 20, 1986, 14 employees were shot dead and six wounded at the Edmond, Oklahoma, Post Office by postman Patrick Sherrill, who then committed suicide with a shot to the forehead. Between 1986 and 1997, more than 40 people were killed in more than 20 incidents.

Following this series of events, the idiom entered into common usage, and has been applied to murders committed by employees in the workplace, irrespective of the employer; and occasionally more loosely to describe killings in the workplace other than by employees in situations in which the motive is not commonplace.

...more...

I remember it quite well - was living in OKC at the time.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. My God, how time goes fast. I would have sworn it wasn't that long ago...

but then, Christmas 2002 seems like it just passed...

Getting older sucks.

[Freddie Stubbs]

32. Here is a list

http://abcnews.go.com/US/print?id=1561504

[AngryAmish]

5. in other news, dog bites man...

[M155Y_A1CH]

6. Gone Postal

When times are rough and jobs are hard to find,
more and more people "go postal" at their old workplaces.

This was happening more often back when Bill Clinton took office.
The prosperity of the Clinton presidency
slowed down all violent crime.

It's only natural that such would occur again if bad times returned.

I would advise anyone in a position that requires firing of employees,
be very careful in this jobless "recovery".

[raccoon]

15. Yes, because if a person loses a good job with benefits,

odds are NOT GOOD that they'll be able to get another one.

"When times are rough and jobs are hard to find,
more and more people "go postal" at their old workplaces. "

[Pavulon]

7. Odd

The female workplace shooter (mass murder) is pretty rare.

Terrible loss for the families.

No mention of injuries so that means she killed every person she fired at. Also rare, even with a shotgun or rifle. Almost impossible with a sidearm.

[Nevernose]

21. Disagree. Depends on when they got medical attention

If the first few were taken by surprise (who would expect a woman to "go postal" like that, even in a Post Office?), then a kill might be very likely (back of the head, say, or square in the chest).

The reason people survive gunshot wounds these days, even pistol wounds, is the quick medical attention they usually receive. Apparently, though, the police didn't even get into the building until after it was all over, and even then they had to wait for the SWAT team. And only THEN would medical teams get into the building, and then they would have to get to a trauma center. So it could have taken an hour or more to get the wounded to the hospital, and that's assuming that people knew what was happening and called police immediately. Also, one person did survive and is in critical condition.

That's why I would agree with your description of "odd," though not your phrase "almost impossible."

Morbid conversation, I know, and the thought of those people lying aon the floor and bleeding to death for an hour literally sickens me.

[LisaL]

30. Yes, very unusual. It's almost exclusively men that go postal.

[Gman]

9. We started using the term "going postal

seems to me 20 years ago. The USPS hates the term but doesn't do anything to fix their policies that cause someone to go postal.

[raccoon]

14. I've heard that, besides being a high-pressure work environment,

some of their managers could give lessons to Simon Legree.
I realize that crappy managers are everywhere, but I've heard that some in the PO really take the cake.

Anybody here had any experience working in a PO?

[soothsayer]

19. Yep, I did for 12 years. Lots of Viet Nam vets (they get priority

hiring). They made up a fair population of those who 'go postal' but I'm not sure what makes the others snap. Prolly has something to do with it being a workforce of 800,000, so it seems like there's more violence in this particular workplace. AND it is one of those jobs where you never feel a sense of progress---the mail is there when your shift starts, and there's still tons of mail when you leave. Plus something like 90% of USPS ee's retire from the same jobs they started in. I like the PO---full of misfit toys like myself.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

25. Bingo!...

... I served as long as you did with the USPS and that pretty much explains everything to a "T". You only forgot to mention the illiterates that are allowed to be "promoted" to manager/supervisor positions. I am not kidding, I have an old job evaluation where the "tie in training" mispelled no less than 7 words and had the handwritting skills of a first grader. Alot of promotions into management at the post office have to do with where you keep your nose.

[CAcyclist]

28. That's interesting

that you say how there's mail at the beginning and then more at the end so you never feel a sense of progress.

I remember quitting a job after they changed the routine. It was just mucking out horse stalls, but they used to have us assigned to a specific barn so when you finished, the people who rode those horses knew who was responsible and I took great pride in making sure my charges were bedded deeper than anyone else's and the stalls were cleaned out more thoroughly. When they switched to a system where you just start going in a pattern incorporating all the barns and then the next person picks up where you finished, I quit. I felt that I wouldn't get recognition for a job well done so what was the point.

[Kagemusha]

10. There were stories just the other day about slow CA mail

How this sorting facility was overloaded, I think.

Well the mail's gonna be even slower for a while now.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. But when you control the mail

You control...information!

[Scurrilous]

13. LOL

Newman: I'm a United States Postal Worker.

George Costanza: Aren't those the guys that always go crazy, come back with a gun and shoot everybody?

Newman: Sometimes.

Jerry: Why is that?

Newman: Because the mail never stops. Every day it piles up, more and more and more, and you've got to get it out, and the more you get out, the more keeps coming in. And then the barcode reader breaks. And it's Publisher's Clearing House...

Jerry: All right, all right.

[alcibiades_mystery]

16. Just about to post that too

Hate to make light of this awful tragedy, but God, we need some laughter some times, and no mistake. My favorite Newman quotation is this:

Kramer, Newman and a 'salesman' are at the back of a van in an alley.

Salesman: All right, I got everything here. I got the Cyclone F series, Hydra

Jet Flow, Stockholm Superstream, you name it.

Jerry: What do you recommend?

Salesman: What are you looking for?

Kramer: Power, man. Power.

Newman: Like Silkwood.

Kramer: That's for radiation.

Newman: That's right.

Kramer (pointing to the largest one): Now, what is this?

Salesman: That's the Commando 450, I don't sell that one. What about thi-

Kramer: Well that's what we want, the Commando 450.

Salesman, Nah, believe me. It's only used in the circus. For elephants.

Newman: We'll pay anything. We've got the (hands a wad of money to Kramer)

What about Jerry?

Kramer: He couldn't handle that, he's delicate.

(Newman's delivery of "That's right." is pitch perfect. Nailed it.)

[Name removed]

18. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kurth]

20. Time to raise stamp prices

and make everyone use machines in the lobby.

[Not_So_Right_Wing]

23. How sad!

guns are the bane of society.

[420inTN]

27. No, PEOPLE are the bane of society. n/t

[Not_So_Right_Wing]

31. Guns make bad people worse

I doubt she could have stabbed that many people to death. Guns make killers more efficient and deadly.

[MrBenchley]

33. And the gun industry loves to cash in.....

[4_Legs_Good]

24. I work like 6 blocks from there.

Damn, that's freaky. I drop mail off (outside) there regularly.

It's so bizarre when this stuff happens so close to home.

/shudder/

david

[Warren DeMontague]

26. Oy Vey. I used to live down there. Still have friends there.

Terrible news.

[Judi Lynn]

29. List of Deadly Postal Shootings

By The Associated Press

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1561504