Postal worker shot two colleagues in Des Moines before being caught
Police recovered a 9 mm handgun near a bike path after a 39-year-old woman fired 10 to 12 shots inside a downtown post office.
By Fatima Saleh ·
Ten to twelve gunshots rang out on the second floor of the main post office in Des Moines on Thursday morning. The shooter, a 39-year-old female employee, fired at two of her female coworkers before fleeing the building. Police detained her 11 minutes after the first calls came in.
Jennifer Christine Pledger, of West Des Moines, was arrested along a nearby bike path without resistance. Officers recovered a 9 mm handgun at the scene. Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek stated that Pledger stood over one victim and fired again before running. A male employee was injured when he fell while trying to escape.
The victims are a 45-year-old woman, a 53-year-old woman, and a 55-year-old man. All three were transported to a hospital across the street from the post office. Parizek said they are stable and receiving care. No injuries were considered life-threatening by authorities.
Pledger faces two counts of attempted murder. She also faces two counts of willful injury causing serious injury and one count of intimidation. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating the incident alongside local, state, and federal law enforcement. Gov. Kim Reynolds said she is in contact with the Department of Public Safety and posted online that law enforcement responded quickly.
The shooting took place in a non-public area of the facility just north of downtown. Calls began arriving around 9:10 a.m. Pledger was in custody by 9:21 a.m. Des Moines Public Schools temporarily locked down a nearby elementary school and other facilities. Police lifted those restrictions after confirming the suspect was detained.
Postal workers have faced violence in other incidents. In 2006, a former worker killed six people in Goleta, California. A 2000 study commissioned by postal officials found that postal employees are less violent than the national workforce, despite the popular phrase "going postal." The study recommended systems to flag violent tendencies in the workplace.
