Des Moines Postal Worker Shoots Two Colleagues in Capital City Facility
Police detained the suspect within 11 minutes of the first call, leaving three employees in stable condition at a nearby hospital.
By Allison Rojas ·
The sound of gunfire echoed through the second floor of a Des Moines post office on Thursday morning.
A female postal employee opened fire on two coworkers in a restricted area of the main facility, authorities said. A third worker was injured in a fall while attempting to flee the scene. Des Moines Police Sergeant Paul Parizek confirmed that all three victims, two women and a man, were transported to a hospital across the street from the post office. He noted that none of the injuries were considered life-threatening and that all patients remained in stable condition.
Witnesses reported hearing between 10 and 12 shots during the incident. Police began receiving calls regarding the shooting at approximately 9:10 a.m. Officers arrived at the location within three minutes and quickly located the suspect. Parizek stated that the woman was detained without resistance on a bike path nearby by 9:21 a.m. Law enforcement had not identified the alleged shooter by the time of the report.
The facility is located just north of downtown Des Moines. In response to the violence, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service confirmed via email that it was joining local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in investigating the shooting. Governor Kim Reynolds said she was in contact with the Department of Public Safety regarding the event. She posted online that state officials were monitoring the situation and expressing gratitude for the rapid law enforcement response.
The shooting prompted temporary security measures in the surrounding neighborhood. Des Moines Public Schools barred entry and exit at a nearby elementary school, welcome center, and nutrition center. District officials lifted those restrictions only after police confirmed the suspect was in custody.
The incident adds to a history of violence at postal facilities across the United States. In 1986, a postal worker in Edmond, Oklahoma, shot 14 colleagues before taking his own life. A similar attack occurred in 1991 in Royal Oak, Michigan, where a former employee killed four ex-coworkers. Following those events, postal officials released a study in 2000 examining workplace violence. The report suggested methods to flag violent tendencies and concluded that postal employees were less violent than the general workforce. A former worker in Goleta, California, fatally shot six employees in 2006 before killing himself.
