Oops! Someone went postal.

[buttmunch]

GOLETA, Calif. (AP) — A person opened fire at a postal station on Monday night, killing three people and critically wounding a fourth, authorities said.
Sheriff's spokesman Erik Raney said police were advising people in the immediate area to stay inside their homes while authorities searched for the shooter Monday night.

The suspect was believed to be a former postal employee and all of the victims were believed to be current employees, Raney said.

Authorities were looking both in the neighborhood and in the postal station itself.

"Our SWAT teams are going in there as if the suspect is still inside and we're taking every precaution of course," Raney said.

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

Two people died at the scene, and a nursing supervisor said a third was pronounced dead at a hospital, he said. 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 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.

The two victims pronounced dead at the scene were found outside the building and the two wounded were found inside, Raney said.

Isn't going postal soooo '90's?

[A*O]

I know this is a terrible tragedy to the people involved and we should not laugh, but the fact the 'going postal' has entered the lexicon of American English surely means this happens WAY too often. Maybe the solution is for Govt departments to stop employing psychos, and for those psychos not to have access to guns of any description despite the Constitution.

[Barbara]

Isn't going postal soooo '90's?

There have been a few cases here recently, but I think one of them was the guy from the postal office and his GF who had pretended to be attacked and robbed the money for themselves or something

[ourmaninBusan]

Maybe the solution is for Govt departments to stop employing psychos, and for those psychos not to have access to guns of any description despite the Constitution.

It's possible that the current mail-sorting process makes people into
psychos.

The rigors of sorting mail have not been lessened by using automated
sorters/conveyors; it may even have been made worse. Now that
they have these machines, their workload has been increased, and the
amount of mail they have to sort through is ludicrous. (If I can find
the article I'll post it.)

[buttmunch]

Interesting, ourman, I hadn't really thought about that. That article would be interesting to read. But then, postal workers have been going, erm, postal for decades. How long has automation been in place?

[Glasgow53]

First of all, it is easier for veterans to get into the post office, you get extra points on your entrance application if you are a veteran. Veteran = familiarity with firearms. Secondly, there is a huge pressure at the post office now, for the workers to crank out more and more work, faster and faster. It wouldn't surprise me if this was largely the reason for the stress. (My husband is a retired mailman)

[Algernon]

Hmmmm... this is making me rethink my dream to be a mailwoman. Seriously, my dream job is to deliver mail. Glasgow, did your husband like it? Every mailman or mailwoman (pc, you know) loves their jobs.

[Grimmlok]

Whynot just install metal detectors at the entrances and pay a couple bucks to have a security guard grope you.

[LynnieD]

I think there are 6 or 7 people dead now total.....sad. I thought this kind of thing was over, like the previous poster said, so 90's.

[Sojiita]

My oldest brother worked in the post office here(and yes he is ex-military as someone mentioned) and he said it was the most stressful job he ever had..including the military! Extreme pressure to increase productivity he said.

[Glasgow53]

My husband liked the job initially years ago when he first started. He spent most of his time outside away from the office, on his own, and he liked it. Then they started to push productivity. They want more office time and less street time. Mail comes into the office presorted, and the letter carriers have to put it all up in order before they take it out. The pressure on the carriers is incredible, even in a small office like my husband worked in, and seems to be getting worse. My husband had to retire, he had a disability, but it was probably a tossup whether he would have gotten his disability or gotten fired due to bad attendance. Plus, we are in CT and there were times when he couldn't get out of our driveway until the plow guy came.