Killer Spoke of His Wife Before Being Slain, Police Say

Police investigators said Monday that moments before he was killed by SWAT officers on the roof of a new Sacramento library, a gunman who had just shot to death two librarians mumbled a rambling complaint about his wife being denied the respect she deserved.

Beyond that, detectives said they knew of no reason why Barrett L. Street, 38, walked into the downtown library Sunday, went to the third floor and gunned down the employees, apparently at random, at their work stations behind an information desk.

Street was described by various sources as a transient and sometime sculptor, a regular library visitor who had lived in the Sacramento area for more than 20 years, sometimes in a car and in abandoned buildings.

His victims, police said, were Sandra Pelose, 43, and Thomas P. Ballard, 61. Each was hit at least twice with bullets from a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Ballard was struck as he crawled for refuge under a desk.

The shootings occurred near the end of a daylong community party that celebrated the start of Sunday business hours at the $24-million library near the state Capitol.

After police were summoned, Street fled to the roof of the five-story building and minutes later was cornered by the six-member SWAT squad.

As the officers tried to talk to him, Lt. Joe Enloe said, Street “was doing some mumbling (about how his) wife hadn’t been treated properly--given the respect she deserved. What (else) he was saying, the officers couldn’t decipher.”

Enloe said: “We have no idea who his wife is and where she might be.”

When Street refused to drop the gun and pointed it toward officers, he was killed in a fusillade of about 25 bullets, Enloe said. His body toppled from the roof to the street. Nearby, officers found his empty gun.

Enloe said investigators were checking whether Street was in legal possession of the pistol. They said he had no recent criminal history in Sacramento.

For the capital, it was the second time in less than a month that a public building had been taken over by a gunman. An armed invader was shot dead three weeks ago by police after he took hostages at the headquarters of the State Board of Equalization.

Richard Killian, director of the Sacramento public libraries, said the safety of library users and employees was a top priority when the library was designed and when it opened in July in a downtown neighborhood frequented by street people. Security measures include four unarmed guards during business hours, he said.

“I have never seen a crime like this in a public library,” said a shaken Killian, who has been in the library business for 34 years. “It’s a tragedy and an aberration.”