CDCAN
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
DISABILITY RIGHTS NEWS REPORT
Prayers For Charlotte Colton & Her Family
#0016-2006  January 30, 2006 Monday
Advocacy Without Borders:
Connecting people with disabilities & seniors to rights and unified action
1225 8th Street Suite 480 - Sacramento, CA 95814  916/446-0013  Fax: 916/446-0026
Marty Omoto - director  email: martyomoto@rcip.com    website: www.cdcan.us
 
SHOOTING IN GOLETA
* Prayer Vigil Held Tuesday Evening for Charlotte Colton
* Mother of 3 Including A Child With Developmental Disabilities
* Previously Served As Board Member of Disability Organization
* Local Community & Disability Advocates Stunned

SACRAMENTO  -  The tragic shooting at a US postal center in Goleta, near Santa Barbara Monday evening that left six people dead, also left a mother of three children, including a young son with developmental disabilities, in extremely critical condition with a gunshot wound in the head. Sources indicate that Charlotte Colton's condition is extremely grave, with family and friends including advocates in the Santa Barbara disability community reeling in shock and sadness at the shooting.  Colton was taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

The postal center where the shooting took place, is located just a few blocks from the University of California, Santa Barbara in the town of Goleta, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Colton Was Former Board Member of Well Known Disability Community Organization
Scores of friends and family attended a prayer vigil held at San Raphael church in Santa Barbara Tuesday evening (January 31) for Colton, age  44,  a mother of three children including Kyle, who has developmental disabilities. She previously served as a board member of Alpha Resource Center, a respected and well known community-based organization that provides services and supports to people with developmental disabilities in the Santa Barbara area, and she remained active in special needs activities and local support groups for her son and others.

"Charlotte was a former Alpha board member and mom to 3 great boys. Her son Kyle has CP [cerebral palsy]. Charlotte was in the [Alpha Resource Center] office over the holidays sharing news of her family and their plans for the new year," Kimberly Olson, executive director of the non-profit agency said in a message to friends and workers, "...I know the Colton family will be in your prayers."

Postal Employee Killed Herself After Shooting Fellow Employees
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's officials said Jennifer Sanmarco, age 44, killed herself and five US postal workers in one of the deadliest postal shootings in 20 years.  She was identified as originally coming from Grants, New Mexico.  According to Goleta postal officials, Sanmarco, who had been employed at the postal center more than two years ago,  was removed from the Goleta post office building earlier by sheriff's deputies after co-workers said she began acting "strangely".
According to reports, Sanmarco got past the outside fence at the Santa Barbara Processing and Distribution Center in Goleta Monday (January 30) by following another employee's car into the lot. Armed with a 9 mm handgun, she then got through the front door of the secured building by taking another employee's electronic ID badge at gunpoint. Local authorities received calls that shots had been fired at about 9:15 p.m. on Monday.
Santa Barbara County sheriff deputies found two people dead in the parking lot, one just inside the main building and others inside, including Sanmarco, who according to reports, apparently killed herself with her gun.  About 50 to 60 other US postal workers at the center were evacuated. Local authorities said they do not know what the motive was or how many guns were actually used.

According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's department, those who were shot and killed by Sanmarco (in addition to killing herself) were:
* Zee Fairchild, 37, of Santa Barbara
* Nicola Grant, 42, of Lompoc
* Maleka Higgins, 28, of Santa Barbara
* Dexter Shannon, 57, of Oxnard
* Guadalupe Swartz, 52,of Lompoc

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The California Disability Community Action Network is a non-partisan link to thousands of Californians with developmental and other disabilities, people with traumatic brain and other injures, seniors and their families, community organizations and providers, direct care and other workers, and other advocates. These action alerts and news reports is for all of them.   If you would like to get on this distribution (and conversely, get off of  it) please send an email with that  request to:  martyomoto@rcip.com OR sign up via the NEW CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us  Sharing information is part of our organizing effort. Please feel free to forward or copy  this (attribution is nice but not necessary). We're all in this together!