Maleka Higgins, 28, was one of six postal workers killed in a shooting at the USPS Mail Processing Facility in Goleta, California, on January 30, 2006. The shooter, former coworker Jennifer San Marco, entered the facility after tailgating another vehicle through the gate and used an employee identification badge to get into the building. The attack also left Charlotte Colton to die of her injuries two days later.

San Marco had been on medical leave after a mental health assessment and had been removed from the postal facility by sheriff’s deputies in 2003. Authorities found personal writings at her home in New Mexico expressing extreme frustration with the Goleta Postal Distribution Center and other local institutions; investigators suggested racial animosity may have been a motive because most of her victims were people of color. The Santa Barbara community held a memorial service where Maleka was remembered for her warmth and generosity and her mother, Sherie Higgins, spoke against the violence and racism that had taken her daughter’s life.

Does anyone have memories of Maleka or information about that day that could add to the record?