Sounds like a Bush-bot to me...

[destruction]

Calif postal killer may have shot neighbor, sixth worker dies - By TIM MOLLOY, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

(02-01) 14:30 PST GOLETA, Calif. (AP) --

Investigators tracking the path of an ex-postal worker who carried out a deadly assault on a mail-sorting facility believe a former neighbor found slain at a condominium may have been the first victim of the suicidal rampage, authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities here and in New Mexico described past bizarre behavior by Jennifer Sanmarco, and an ex-colleague said she was prone to racist remarks, but her motive remained a mystery as the death of a woman wounded at the mail facility raised the number of slain postal workers to six. The neighbor would be Sanmarco's seventh victim.

Postal employee Charlotte Colton, 44, of Santa Barbara, died Wednesday morning, said Teresa Rounds, spokeswoman for Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Colton was shot in the head Monday night as Sanmarco, 44, fired a handgun at workers in a parking lot and inside the Santa Barbara Processing and Distribution Center.

Investigators said Sanmarco reloaded at least once and ended the carnage by killing herself. It was unclear where she obtained the 9 mm pistol, Santa Barbara County sheriff's Sgt. Erik Raney said.

Sanmarco left no suicide note.

However, acquaintances said Sanmarco sometimes talked to herself and spewed racist comments. In New Mexico, where she moved in 2004, she once tried to start a publication called "The Racist Press" but didn't qualify for a business license, authorities said.

All of the dead were minorities, an acquaintance said.

Sanmarco may have killed the former neighbor shortly before the 8:59 p.m. attack. A gunshot was reported at about 8:20 p.m. Monday at a Santa Barbara condominium complex where Sanmarco lived several years ago, Raney said.

A woman identified by relatives as Beverly Graham, 54, was found dead in her condo Tuesday. She had been shot in the head.

"We are investigating it as being the beginning of this rampage," Raney said.

The two women used to argue because Sanmarco would sing loudly outside of her condo, said Eddie Blomfield, Graham's boyfriend.

Graham's brother, Les Graham, said his sister had complained about a woman who "used to come out and rant and rave in front of her building."

Sanmarco's reputation for bizarre behavior ended her postal career. She worked at the mail sorting plant for nearly six years but left in June 2003.

She was granted early retirement on a medical disability because of psychological problems, the U.S. Postal Service said.

"She went through all the requisite screenings. There were no prior indications" of problems, said Keith Blackman, a media consultant to the Postal Service.

Sanmarco never threatened other employees and apparently the only concerns were for the woman's own safety, Blackman said.

"She seemed to be having conversations and there wasn't anyone around her. She'd be just jabbering away," recalled former plant worker Jeff Tabala. "It was pretty unsettling."

Tabala said that in 2003 he saw sheriff's deputies pull Sanmarco out from under a mail-sorting machine and wheel her away in handcuffs on a mail cart after a disturbance.

She returned several months later but "people started coming to me and saying, 'she's acting erratically,"' Tabala said. "She was screaming, she was saying a lot of racist comments. It was pretty ugly."

She seemed specifically hostile to Asians, he said.

She was escorted out of the building by management and never returned, Tabala said.

Tabala, who knew the victims, said three of the dead were black, one was Chinese-American, one was Hispanic and one was Filipino.

In addition to Colton, the dead were Ze Fairchild, 37, and Maleka Higgins, 28, both of Santa Barbara; Nicola Grant, 42, and Guadalupe Swartz, 52, both of Lompoc; and Dexter Shannon, 57, of Oxnard.

After moving to New Mexico, Sanmarco lived in an isolated desert home but had run-ins with local officials.

"We weren't sure what she was going to do next," said Terri Gallegos, deputy clerk for the city of Milan. In 2004, she said, Sanmarco applied for a business license 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.

During one meeting, Gallegos said, Sanmarco carried on a conversation with herself "like she was arguing with someone but there was no one there."

Last March, office workers called authorities after the woman made what Gallegos described as a rude allegation. Other times, Gallegos said, Sanmarco would come in and simply stare at one employee in particular.

In June, police in nearby Grants, N.M., talked to her after someone at a gas station called to complain of nudity, Police Chief Marty Vigil said. Sanmarco was dressed when officers arrived.

It was unclear when she returned to California.

Tabala said Sanmarco was close with an employee at the Goleta mail facility, Kevin Whittemore, 53, who died Jan. 21 of an apparent heart attack. However, she was not among employees who attended a beach memorial service Saturday, Tabala said.

___

Associated Press Writers Christina Almeida in Los Angeles and Sue Major Holmes in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this story.

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/02/01/state/n110003S85.DTL