Six people were killed when an ex-postal employee opened fire at her former workplace in Goleta (California) on 30 January 2006.

According to press reports, the assailant, armed with a 9mm handgun, also shot and killed her former neighbour before travelling to the post office. After the murders she committed suicide by shooting herself.

The shooter was able to purchase a gun despite having a history of mental illness, acording to police. The assailant filled in an application for a background check, and picked up the gun two days later after the check failed to find any problems, according to the shop owner. Read more here.

A gun at work increases the likelihood of workplace homicide. Guns are used in 77% of workplace homicides in the US, compared to 67% of all homicides nationwide (2003 figures). The Brady Center to Stop Gun Violence recently released a report on gun violence in the workplace.

Other examples of workplace shootings in the US

27 August 2003 – Gunman on the verge of losing his job shot and killed 6 people at an auto parts warehouse in Chicago. The gunman was also shot dead.

8 July 2003 – Employee shot 14 co-workers, killing 6, at a Lockheed Martin aircraft parts plant in Meridian (Mississippi), before turning the gun on himself.

1 July 2003 – Employee shot and killed 3 co-workers and wounded 5 others at the Modine Manufacturing Co. in Jefferson City (Missouri), before killing himself.

25 February 2003 – Employee shot and killed 4 people at Labor Ready Inc., a temporary employment service in Huntsville (Alabama). A fifth person was wounded.

5 February 2001 – Employee shot and killed 4 people, then himself at a Navistar International engine plant in Melrose Park (Illinois).

26 December 2000 – Software tester killed 7 people at Edgewater Technology Inc in Wakefield (Massachusetts).

20 March 2000 – Fired employee shot and killed 5 people at a Dallas-area car wash.

30 December 1999 – Housekeeper shot and killed 5 co-workers at Radisson Bay Harbor hotel in Tampa (Florida).

2 November 1999 – Copier repairman shot and killed 7 people at Xerox Corp. in Honolulu.

29 July 1999 – Former day trader killed 9 people at two Atlanta brokerage offices and later committed suicide.

17 April 1998 - A post office clerk in Dallas was shot and killed after an argument.

6 March 1998 – Former Connecticut Lottery Corp. accountant shot and killed 4 lottery executives in Newington (Connecticut), then himself.

19 December 1997 – An employee shot 3 workers, killing one of them, in Milwaukee's main post office, before committing suicide. The assailant had made a threat 16 months earlier about shooting other staff.

18 December 1997 – Fired employee killed 4 former co-workers at maintenance yard in Orange (California) and was killed by police.

15 September 1997 – Fired assembly line worker shot and killed 4 people at Aiken (South Carolina).

2 September 1997 – An employee at a Miami Beach (Florida) post office took a gun from his car and shot and critically injured his ex-wife and a friend, who were waiting in line. He then killed himself.

24 April 1996 – Firefighter killed 4 supervisors at Jackson, (Mississipi) firehouse as well as his estranged wife.

19 July 1995 – Los Angeles city electrician shot and killed 4 supervisors at C. Erwin Piper Technical Center.

9 July 1995 – An employee shot his boss in a mail processing centre in City of Industry (California), having pulled a handgun from a paper bag.

3 April 1995 – A former employee at a refinery inspection station in Corpus Christi, Texas, killed the owner of the company, his wife and 3 workers before committing suicide by shooting himself.

21 March 1995 - A former postal worker burdened with "a mountain of debt," kills four people and wounds another during a holdup at the Montclair (New Jersey) post office.

14 March 1994 – Recently fired employee from a Santa Fe Springs (California) electronics factory, killed three people and himself.

2 December 1993 – An unemployed computer engineer opened fire in an unemployment office in Oxnard (California), killing three state workers and injuring four others. He later killed a police officer, and police then killed him.

1 July 1993 – A mentally disturbed man with a grudge against lawyers, opened fire in a San Francisco law office, killing eight people and himself.

6 May 1993 – A postal worker kills one and wounds two at the post office garage in Dearborn (Michigan), before killing himself.

6 May 1993 – A fired postal employee kills his mother, then walks into a post office in the Dana Point community near Los Angeles and shoots two workers, killing one.

14 November 1991 – A fired postal worker kills four supervisors and wounds five employees at a post office in Royal Oak (Michigan), and then killed himself.

11 October 1991 – A fired postal worker kills a former supervisor and her boyfriend at their home in Wayne (New Jersey), then goes to the Ridgewood post office where he kills two mail handlers as they arrive for work.

18 June 1990 – A man whose car had been repossessed by General Motors Acceptance Corp (GMAP) went on a shooting spree in a GMAP office in Jacksonville (Florida), killing 10 people and wounding four others before killing himself.

10 August 1989 - Postal worker at Escondido (California), shoots and kills his wife at their home, then drives to the Orange Glen post office, where he shoots and kills two colleagues and wounds another before killing himself.

16 February 1988 – Ex-employee at ESL Corp. in Sunnyvale (California) killed seven people with a shotgun.

20 August 1986 - A part-time letter carrier in Edmond (Oklahoma) kills 14 people in the post office there before taking his own life. The assailant had a history of work problems and faced the possibility of being fired.

Taken from:

Associated Press. (31.06.06)
Associated Press (28.08.03)
GunPolicy.org