Postal Worker Committed Suicide in Linda Vista Home; Sixth Such Death in a Year

A 35-year-old postal employee, stationed in the main post office on Midway Drive, shot and killed himself in his Linda Vista home last week in what authorities said was the sixth suicide among county postal workers since early last year.

Matias B. Alonsagay, who lived with his mother in the 2200 block of Flushing Drive, died Feb. 22 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head, Deputy Coroner Charles Kelley said Wednesday. Kelley said Alonsagay was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:18 a.m.

“We’re just trying to get over the sorrow at this point in time,” Mae Alonsagay, his sister, said Wednesday from the mother’s home. “Beyond that, we really don’t care to comment. The time will come when we will want to talk, but now is not that time.”

Tom Gerlach, who lives across the street from the Alonsagays, said he was stunned by the death of his neighbor.

“It’s not like I talked to him every day,” Gerlach said, “but I talked to him when I saw him. I hadn’t noticed that he was depressed. He was a good guy, a hard-working guy, lived with his mom. Every afternoon, his sister and brother would bring their kids over, and he would baby-sit until his mom got home. He was pretty devoted to family.

“His death was a pretty strange thing, and I’ve got no idea why it happened. He was a very private person. If things were bothering him, he wouldn’t tell you about it. He kept very busy; he liked to work on cars. Whether his death was in any way related to the post office, I just don’t know, and I haven’t heard.”

Mike Cannone, a spokesman for San Diego County Postmaster Margaret Sellers, said Alonsagay had worked for the U.S. Postal Service since 1980, having started as a custodian. After two promotions in two years, he was employed as an electronics technician at the time of his death.

“In talking to fellow employees, they had no idea that something was wrong, except for one thing,” Cannone said. “One did say that Alonsagay had recently received a letter from the Philippines that really upset him. He even mentioned it to the co-worker, but no one knew the details.”

Cannone said he didn’t know Alonsagay’s birthplace, and his sister declined to comment. (A neighbor, who asked not to be quoted by name, said the Alonsagays had lived on Flushing Drive since the mid-1960s.) His sister said Alonsagay was one of four children; he had a brother and two sisters. Cannone said Alonsagay was a four-year veteran of the Air Force.

Since early last year, eight postal workers have lost their lives in suicides or homicides, which fellow employees have attributed to low morale and poor working conditions. San Diego County has about 6,700 postal employees.

The postal situation drew attention last fall when Escondido letter carrier John Merlin Taylor shot and killed his wife, then drove to the Orange Glen substation where he worked and killed two co-workers before turning the gun on himself.

In December, a congressional inquiry into the county’s post offices, with the focus on Sellers’ tenure as postmaster, was held at the Federal Building downtown. U.S. Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego), at whose behest the inquiry took place, said Wednesday that he had mailed letters to Sellers and Postmaster General Anthony Frank demanding to know more about the latest death, but to no avail.

“We don’t know if there’s a direct link between the latest suicide and ongoing on-the-job stress,” Bates said.