Mass shootings have become such a part of American life that a simple word can evoke them from the nation’s collective memory. For example, Columbine, Sandy Hook and Luby’s. One thing you’ll notice about almost all mass shootings is that the perpetrator is male. Female mass shooters are rare. Female mass shooters that target their place of employment are even rarer.
But in Goleta, California, in 2006, an ex-postal worker was an exception to the rule. It was the nation’s deadliest workplace shooting perpetrated by a woman and the nation’s bloodiest shooting at a postal installation in almost 20 years.
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Sources:
Press-Register, 27 January, 2006 – “Death Toll Up to 8 In Postal Worker’s Rampage”
Lompoc Record, 31 January, 200 6- “Former Employee Hoes on Shooting Rampage at Postal Station”
New York Post, 1 February, 2016 – “Ex-Mail Gal in Slay Rampage”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1 February, 2006 – “Six Dead After Shooting at Mail-Handling Plant”
Associated Press, 26 February, 2006 – “Death Toll Climbs to Eight in Postal Worker’s Rampage”
Lompoc Record, 2 February, 2006 – “Five Victims of Goleta Killings had Lompoc Connections”
Lompoc Record, 2 February, 2006 – “Postal Center to Reopen this Weekend”
Tulsa World, 2 February, 2006 – “Former Tulsan Among 6 Killed at Postal Center”
The Associated Press, 3 February, 2006 – “Goleta Postal Killer had Conspiracy Theory”
Cibola Citizen, 3 February, 2006 – “USPS Secures Shooter’s House”
Daily Breeze, 3 February, 2006 – “Ex-Mail Worker Always Alone”
Ventura County Star, 3 February, 2006 – “A Time for Mourning”
The Tribune, 24 February, 2006 –“Yes, The Checks in the Mail”
The Associated Press, 7 February, 2006 – “Shooter in Postal Rampage Got Gun in New Mexico”
Ventura County Star, 10 February, 2006 – “Goleta Postal Worker Bid Farewell”
Lompoc Record, 12 February, 2006 – “Community Pays Last Respects to Goleta Shooting Victim”
Ventura County Star, 14 February, 2006 – “Case Made for Gun Law Reform”
Ventura County Star, 4 March, 2006 – “Newspaper Traces Santa Barbara Postal Killer’s Spiral into Madness”
Anderson Cooper 360, 26 April, 2007 – “Killers in Our Midst”
The Associated Press, 21 April, 2007 – “Mass Public Shootings Much More Common Since Mid-1960s”
The Oregonian, 3 October, 2015 – “ORegon Shooting Rekindles Memory of 2006 California Massacre for Gunman’s Neighbor”
Santa Maria Times, 6 February, 2006 – “Family, Friends Say Farewell to Ze Fairchild”
Audio Sources:
“A Postal Worker’s Revenge | Full Documentary | Real Crime”
