Edmond post office shooting

Edmond post office shooting
Location Edmond, Oklahoma, United States
Date August 20, 1986
~7:00 a.m. (UTC-08)
Attack type
 Mass shooting, murder-suicide
Weapons Two Remington-manufactured M1911 (.45 ACP) semiautomatic pistols
Ruger (.22-caliber) semiautomatic pistol[1]
Deaths 15 (including the perpetrator)
Non-fatal injuries
 6
Perpetrators Patrick Sherrill
Motive Unknown

The Edmond post office shooting occurred in Edmond, Oklahoma on August 20, 1986. During a deadly rampage that lasted less than fifteen minutes, postal worker Patrick Sherrill pursued and shot twenty co-workers, killing fourteen of them, before committing suicide. Sherrill's attack inspired the American phrase "going postal".[2]

Shooting

Shortly after 7:00 a.m., Sherrill killed Richard Esser Jr.,..... one of two supervisors who had verbally disciplined him the previous day for showing up to work, seemingly, intoxicated on several occasions, for disruptive behavior with other employees, and attendance issues due to marital problems.[3] Sherrill then sought out Mr. Bill Bland, another supervisor who had reprimanded him. (Fortunately for Mr. Bland, who has never had an issue of punctuality, overslept that morning and arrived an hour late to work, by which time the shootings were already over.) Not finding Mr. Bland, Sherrill, who had many complaints about behavior from other employees, then killed Paul Michael "Mike" Rockne (grandson of legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne.)[4]

Eighty to one hundred workers occupied the small facility at the time of the attack. Fourteen people died at the scene, and six others suffered wounds requiring hospitalization. The day's violence ended when Sherrill shot himself in the forehead.[1]

Possible motives

Sherrill's job title was relief carrier, meaning he was often required to work alternate routes on different days. His lack of a permanently assigned route meant that he did not rank the same job stability of other USPS workers. Opinions vary concerning his job performance. Some reports portray him as an erratic, irritable worker, understood to have marital issues, punctuality issues, and a drinking problem; others (very few) claim he performed well and was being picked on by management. In any case, on the afternoon of August 19, 1986 supervisors Esser and Bland appropriately reprimanded Sherrill for his behavior. Anger over this earned reprimand, coupled with anxiety that he was likely to be fired and marital issues, could have been possible motives behind the attack the following morning.[5]

Victims

Memorial to the 1986 post office incident in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Killed

[1]

Injured

[1]

Perpetrator

Patrick Sherrill
Born November 13, 1941
Watonga, Oklahoma, United States
Died August 20, 1986 (aged 44)
Edmond, Oklahoma, United States
Cause of death
 Suicide
Occupation Postal worker
Killings
Target(s) United States Postal Service employees

Patrick Henry Sherrill was born November 13, 1941 in Watonga, Oklahoma and had served in the Marines.[3] He was considered an expert marksman and was a member of a National Guard pistol team.[1]

Subsequent postal shooting incidents

The 1986 Edmond incident was the first of several highly publicized postal shootings.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Justus, Dale (8 August 2011). Fifteen Minutes of Terror: Massacre at the Edmond Oklahoma Post Office. iUniverse, Incorporated. p. 34. ISBN 978-1462041985.
  2. ↑ Staff (September 4, 1994). "Shootings Seal Post Office Rep". Chicago Sun Times  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Morgan, Rhett (August 20, 2006). "Postal massacre remembered: It was 20 years ago today that 15 people were killed in Edmond.". Tulsa World (Tulsa, OK)  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Thomsen, Ian (November 26, 1987). "No Escaping For Knute Rockne III". Boston Globe. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Staff (May 1, 2005). "On August 20, 1986, a part-time letter carrier named Patrick H. Sherrill, facing possible dismissal after a clear troubled work history.(RESOURCES AND REFERENCES)(Brief Article)". The Journal of Employee Assistance  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  6. ↑ Hanley, Robert (October 11, 1991). "4 Slain in 2 New Jersey Attacks And Former Postal Clerk Is Held". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ "A former postal worker commits mass murder.". The History Channel website. 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  8. ↑ Levin, Doron P. (November 15, 1991). "Ex-Postal Worker Kills 3 and Wounds 6 in Michigan". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  9. ↑ Gregory K. Moffatt, Blind-Sided: Homicide Where It Is Least Expected, at 37 (2000).
  10. ↑ "DEATH IN THE POST OFFICE: THE OVERVIEW; Former Montclair Postal Worker Charged With Killings in Robbery". New York Times. March 23, 1995.
  11. ↑ Holusha, John; Archibold, Randal C. (2006-02-01). "Ex-Employee Kills 6 Others and Herself at California Postal Plant". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2010.

External links