A "model" postal worker who killed his wife and gunned down two fellow employees before shooting himself died Friday of the gunshot wound, hospital authorities announced.
John Merlin Taylor, 52, died at Palomar Medical Center at 5:55 p.m. Friday, a day after he went on a rampage at the Orange Glen postal branch, 40 miles north of San Diego.The two postal workers he deliberately shot to death, Ronald Williams and Richard Berni, regularly shared coffee and cigarettes with Taylor each morning.
"They were his friends. It's left a big, big question as to why he shot them - because he obviously picked and chose his victims as he was walking around the post office," said Postal Service spokesman Mike Cannone.
"We are just shocked about this. John Taylor was a model employee. Everyone liked him and he only had three years to go before retirement," said Cannone.
Williams, 56, a retired Navy storekeeper who served in both Korea and Vietnam, was survived by his wife and grown son. Berni, 38, an Air Force veteran, was the father of three, including a 5-month-old son.