Woman Carrier Was Chased by Man Just Two Days Before Shooting Spree With AM-Postal Shooting,
Woman Carrier Was Chased by Man Just Two Days Before Shooting Spree With AM-Postal Shooting, Bjt
LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A man who allegedly killed his mother and a worker at a post office obsessively pursued a woman co-worker with gifts of roses, notes and even a how-to book on relationships, the woman’s neighbors said Friday.
″She said this guy had been harassing her for months,″ said Asa Hackney, who lived up the stairs from Kim Springer, 29, in an apartment complex in Laguna Beach. ″He really frightened her.″
Ms. Springer was under police guard Friday while authorities searched for Mark Richard Hilbun, 38, who authorities identified as the man who went on a shooting spree at a Dana Point post office Thursday, killing two and wounding three. Both were mail carriers.
Hilbun, who was diagnosed as manic depressive last year after a drunken driving arrest, was fired in December after Ms. Springer told superiors that he had been stalking her.
But even after he was dismissed, Hilbun frequently followed Ms. Springer on her route, sent photographs of himself with lewd messages scribbled on the back and left notes and roses at her door, neighbors said.
On one occasion, Hilbun left a copy of the book, ″Secrets About Men Every Woman Should Know,″ Hackney said.
″When she saw it, Kim said, ’Well, I’ve got some reading material now,″ Hackney said.
More recently, Hilbun’s overtures became more frightening. A week ago, he left a note that read: ″I love you. I’m going to kill us both and take us both to hell,″ said Steve Eberhardt, Ms. Springer’s boyfriend.
″He was going to take her with him because she was saying no to him,″ Eberhardt told The Orange County Register.
On Tuesday, Ms. Springer met Hilbun face-to-face outside her apartment and he chased her as she sprinted for her door, Hackney said. She managed to get inside, lock the door and call for help, he said.
″We heard her screaming my wife’s name as she ran toward the building and then we heard her door slam,″ Hackney said. ″I went up on our balcony and looked down at her apartment and there he was sitting and staring at her door.
″I said, ’Is there something I could do for you?‴ Hackney said. ″He said, ‘I’m waiting for an invitation into this apartment,’ and pointed at her door.″
Hilbun left before police arrived and Ms. Springer hurriedly packed and left her apartment, Hackney said.
Sharon Clampett-Hackney, Hackney’s wife, said Ms. Springer later called her and told her she was fine.
″She sounded very calm,″ Mrs. Clampett-Hackney said.
Hackney, who said he and his wife sometimes cared for Ms. Springer’s two cats, described the mail carrier as a friendly, outgoing person.
″She was never involved with this guy,″ Hackney said. ″I think she just may have been friendly to him and he misinterpreted it.″