A former postal worker suspected of killing his mother and a mail carrier was captured today by police officers who received a call that he was drinking at a bar.
The dismissed postal worker, Mark R. Hilbun, was arrested in Huntington Beach, about 20 miles northwest of Dana Point, where, the police say, he opened fire in a post office on Thursday.
"They didn't even approach this guy with their guns drawn," Frank McNaughton, general manager of the bar, said of four officers who made the arrest. "They asked him to step outside. He was real complacent."
Mr. Hilbun, who, the police say, had been stalking a mail carrier, is suspected of stabbing his mother on Thursday before fatally shooting a postal employee and wounding three others.
Mr. McNaughton said that a customer recognized Mr. Hilbun, 38, who was watching sports on a television set and having a drink, and that a friend of the customer called the police.
Dismissed for Stalking
Lieut. Charles Poe of the police in Huntington Beach said Mr. Hilbun, who earlier had a mustache, was clean shaven, and his hair had been cut.
Mr. Hilbun was a carrier at the post office until last year, when he was dismissed for stalking a co-worker.
Lieut. Bob Rivas of the Orange County Sheriff's Department said the police believed that before his arrest Mr. Hilbun had robbed and shot two people at an automated teller machine in nearby Fountain Valley. The victims, Jim Brown, 44, and Elizabeth Shea, 28, who were not seriously injured, told the police that a man matching Mr. Hilbun's description demanded Mr. Brown's wallet and shot them just after midnight.
The post office here reopened on Friday with 12 armed guards, but there was no home delivery. Residents picked up their mail at the office. About half of the 65 employees scheduled to work stayed home. Carriers returned to their routes today.
The attack on Thursday occurred within hours of a shooting at a post office in Dearborn, Mich., in which a postal mechanic, Larry Jasion, killed a co-worker and wounded two others before fatally shooting himself.
By Lily Dizon - Los Angeles Times
July 7, 1993
LAGUNA NIGUEL — A Municipal Court judge Tuesday temporarily suspended murder charges against fired postal worker Mark Hilbun and ordered a hearing to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial.
The 39-year-old Dana Point man has been charged with murdering his mother and then a former co-worker at the Dana Point Post Office during a two-day rampage in May.
Five other people were wounded in that incident and three other attacks, and Hilbun has also been charged with those shootings.
A preliminary hearing to determine if there was enough evidence to try Hilbun was scheduled for Tuesday. But his attorney requested that the hearing and all other criminal proceedings be suspended until a Superior Court judge decides if Hilbun is mentally competent to assist with his defense.
Hilbun had worked at the post office nearly four years before he was fired in December, in part for stalking a female employee. Police said he went to the post office that day to kidnap her. She was not hurt in the shooting.
Municipal Court Judge Pamela L. Iles scheduled the competency hearing for next Tuesday in Superior Court. At least two experts will testify to Hilbun's inability to stand trial, said Deputy Public Defender David Biggs.
Appearing in court briefly Tuesday, Hilbun looked haggard and disoriented as he walked with apparent discomfort around a wired jail cell. His hair was disheveled and his previously cleanshaven face sported a full beard.
In an interview outside court, Biggs said Hilbun is mentally unstable as indicated by an "intentional" fall from a second-story walkway in Orange County Jail last month.
Hilbun broke a vertebra and suffered a concussion in the June 21, incident, which happened while he was out of his cell for his daily recreational break.
After a two-week stay at a hospital, he returned to the jail Friday and is being monitored daily by the medical staff.
"Someone leaping from a second floor . . . and didn't break the fall with his hands but instead landed on his head . . . indicates to me that that individual is not mentally competent," Biggs said. "He didn't slip; he did that intentionally."
Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard King, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment on Hilbun's mental condition, saying only: "Under the law, he is presumed competent."
King said his office has yet to make a decision on whether to seek the death penalty.
Biggs has said that he is considering an insanity defense but emphasized Tuesday that the competency hearing is only to determine if a defendant is fit to stand trial and does not address the sanity issue.
If a judge concludes that Hilbun is mentally incompetent, he would probably be sent to a state facility pending the results of future competency hearings.
If Hilbun is determined to be mentally competent to stand trial, he will return to court for a preliminary hearing.
Police believe Hilbun stabbed his mother to death in her Corona del Mar home on May 6, then drove to the Dana Point Post Office and shot a fellow postal carrier to death and wounded another.
Hilbun eluded police for two days, during which he allegedly shot and wounded at least four more people in three attacks in Dana Point, Newport Beach and Fountain Valley.
He was arrested peacefully while watching television in a Huntington Beach sports bar shortly after midnight May 8.
Fired Mailman Indicted in Shooting Spree
Courts: Mark Hilbun is to be arraigned Tuesday in the deaths of his mother and a former co-worker.
By Thuan Le - Los Angeles Times
January 15, 1994
SANTA ANA — An ex-letter carrier was indicted Friday in the two-day rampage in March that left his mother and a former co-worker dead.
The indictment, authorities said, also accuses Mark Richard Hilbun of attempting to kill seven other people.
Hilbun, 39, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court on two counts of murder, seven counts of attempted murder, and one count each of robbery, attempted kidnaping, burglary and killing his mother's dog, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan Brown.
Prosecutors allege that Hilbun, of San Juan Capistrano, killed his mother, Frances, in her Newport Beach home and shot two postal workers, one fatally, as he tried to kidnap Kimberly Springer at the post office where he once worked.
Hilbun was infatuated with Springer, who worked with Hilbun until he was fired in December, 1992, authorities said.
The indictment by the Orange County Grand Jury was handed up Thursday but was not made public until Friday. It cancels a Jan. 22 preliminary hearing on charges filed earlier involving the same incidents.
Diagnosed as a manic-depressive, Hilbun has a history of emotional problems, according to police. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender David Biggs, tried unsuccessfully last month to have him declared mentally incapable of standing trial.
Hilbun is being held without bail in Orange County Jail, where he apparently attempted suicide in June by jumping from a second-story walkway.
Authorities say after he fatally stabbed his mother and her dog in her Corona del Mar home March 6, he drove to the Dana Point post office where he had been fired.
After allegedly killing a letter carrier, Hilbun tried to shoot another postal worker and the postmaster before leaving the building, police said.
He allegedly attacked and wounded five other people in Dana Point, Newport Beach and Fountain Valley during a two-day period.
Hilbun was arrested while drinking cocktails and watching television in a Huntington Beach sports bar.