Going Postal in Edmond, OK

June 2, 2020
When an active killer event happens at a given type of business location enough times, a slang term will be coined to identify the events; such as it was with "going postal."

Before the attack at Columbine occurred and before the term “active shooter” was ever coined, the colloquialism “going postal” was part of common language. Have you ever wondered why? It’s because there were several spree attacks committed in or near post offices in the 1980s and 1990s. There were enough of them that if someone was expressing a high level of stress, they might be asked, “You’re not going to go postal are you?” One such attack was committed at the post office in Edmond, Oklahoma on August 20th, 1986 and it’s often cited as the first of the “going postal” events.

That morning, shortly after 7 a.m. Patrick Sherrill, armed with three handguns, began his killing spree. His first victim was one of his two supervisors, Richard Esser, Jr. The other supervisor, Bill Bland, arrived late for work on that particular day and escaped Sherrill’s wrath. The shooting was over before Bland arrived.

Post incident investigation revealed that Sherrill, who was employed as a relief mail carrier, had been disciplined the afternoon prior to his attack, reportedly by both supervisors. The exact nature of the counseling and discipline session isn’t available in the public information this author has been able to find. However, the investigation was conflicted as to whether or not the discipline was necessary and appropriate or whether it was just harassing in nature. In the post incident investigation, some of Sherrill’s coworkers apparently described him as reliable and being a hard worker. Others described him as erratic and moody. Both descriptions may be accurate portrayals of Sherrill’s behavior depending on his work relationship with the person describing him.

On the morning of August 20th, Sherrill started his attack by killing Esser and it’s assumed that Sherrill was equally motivated to kill Bland had he been on the scene. Instead, Sherrill went on to shoot another 19 coworkers, killing thirteen of them and injuring six before taking his own life. The 20 people he killed represented about one-fifth of the total employees normally working in the facility at the time. Why Sherrill didn’t shoot more is a question that will remain unanswered through time.

Sherrill’s weapons of choice were reported to be two government model 1911 handguns, chambered for .45ACP; a weapon he would have presumably been familiar with as he was a Marine Corps veteran and member of the National Guard Pistol Team. The third handgun was a Ruger MK II chambered in .22lr. No information is available on which victims he shot with which weapons, but if one considers his choice of weapons, the Ruger must have been almost an after-thought. The Government Model 1911 had long been proven as the military’s handgun of choice. In fact, just the year before, the U.S. Army had replaced the Government Model 1911 with the Beretta M9 chambered in 9mm.

Twenty victims would represent roughly three magazines of ammunition from the 1911s, assuming one shot per victim but there is no indication of shots-per-victim in the reports found. Sherrill was 44 years old at the time of the attack. There is a note that during his Marine Corps service and his time on the National Guard Pistol Team he was considered an Expert Marksman.

Sherrill’s victims included members of both genders and ranged in age from 27 to 51. The large majority of them were either postal clerks or delivery carriers. One other supervisor was killed by Sherrill but was reportedly not one of his supervisors.

This 1986 post office attack was followed by seven others of note. They occurred in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 2006. Interestingly, there were two in 1991 and two in 1993. The two that occurred in 1993 were on the same day - May 6 - but very far apart: one was committed in Dearborn, Michigan and the other in Dana Point, California.

After the attacks in 1986 and 1991, there was some attention paid to postal operations, how the operations were managed and what stressors might be specifically effecting postal carriers.  While the term “going postal” has never been accepted well by any post office employee, for obvious good reason, it remains to this day as part of English slang language. If someone speaks about going postal, all those listening will usually know exactly what is meant.

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