Suspect fires 10 shots at Iowa post office, injures three staff members

A postal worker opened fire at the main post office in Des Moines on Thursday, leaving three employees injured before officers took her into custody.

Police Sergeant Paul Parizek said the incident occurred on the second floor of the facility in an area closed to the public. Witnesses reported hearing between 10 and 12 gunshots. The victims included two female employees, aged 45 and 53, who were shot, and a male employee, aged 55, who was injured when he fell while attempting to escape. Parizek stated that all three victims were in stable condition at the hospital.

The 39-year-old suspect was identified only as a female postal employee. Officers arrived within three minutes of the initial call. Parizek said the suspect was found near a bike path close to the building and was detained without a fight. A 9 mm handgun was recovered at the location where she was held. Authorities did not immediately release the suspect's name.

Calls regarding the shooting began arriving at police at approximately 9:10 a.m. The suspect was in custody by 9:21 a.m. The post office is located north of downtown Des Moines, directly across the street from a major city hospital. A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service confirmed via email that the agency is investigating the event with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners.

Governor Kim Reynolds said she was coordinating with the Department of Public Safety. She posted online that her office was monitoring the situation and expressed gratitude for the rapid law enforcement response. Des Moines Public Schools temporarily restricted entry and exit at a nearby elementary school, welcome center, and nutrition center. Officials lifted those restrictions after police confirmed the suspect was in custody.

The U.S. Postal Service has reviewed workplace violence following several deadly incidents at its facilities. In 2006, a former employee killed six workers in Goleta, California. Earlier attacks include a 1991 shooting in Royal Oak, Michigan, and a 1986 rampage in Edmond, Oklahoma. A 2000 study commissioned after those events concluded that postal employees were less violent than the national workforce, though the term "going postal" had entered common usage.

The study recommended methods to identify violent tendencies among staff. It found that the phrase was largely a myth based on perception rather than statistical probability. The Des Moines incident adds to a list of violent events at postal facilities since that report was issued.