Edmond, Oklahoma — A rifle marksman went hunting for his Edmond coworkers 25 years ago today. Part-time letter carrier Patrick Sherrill’s shootings at the downtown Edmond Post Office in 1986 left 14 people dead before he ended his own life with a gunshot wound to his head.

Sherrill dressed in his usual postal attire entered the east entrance of the Post Office shortly before 7 a.m. with his mail bag loaded with three guns before inflicting his carnage. He locked the Post Office doors to trap defenseless innocents.

Those who perished included Betty Jarred, Patty Husband, Tom Shader, Rick Esser, Mike Rockney, Pat Gabbard, Johnna Ruth Gragget, Patty Welch, Judy Denney, Patty Chambers, Kenneth Morey, Bill Miller, Lee Phillips and Jerry Pyle.

Sherrill, 43, had been reprimanded the previous day for poor on-the-job performance. The slayings were the nation’s third-worst mass murders at the time.

In trouble with management

“It still saddens me to think of a post office as a place where violence occurred when it’s supposed to be a place of fellowship, communication, commerce and safety,” Brian Kelly said.

Kelly was employed by the Edmond Post Office in 1986 as a part-time clerk, but did not work the day of the postal shootings. Kelly retired from the Oklahoma City Post Office in 2009.

Both Kelly and Sherrill were hired in April 1985, after being in the same postal policy orientation class, Kelly said. Postal policy placed both newly hired employees on probation for 90 days, he added.

“I was relatively vocal and inquisitive and social. And I would ask people for help and they would generously give help to me so I could get my work done on time,” Kelly said.

He could tell that Sherrill was struggling to perform all of his duties. A carrier’s work is more solitary with fewer opportunities to ask for help, Kelly said.

“I would deliver mail to his carrier’s case and I could tell he was struggling and maybe offer just a general word of encouragement or greeting,” Kelly said. “He was largely uncommunicative. He wasn’t social at all. He didn’t have any friends that I knew of in there. It was because he just kept to himself. He was a quiet loner type.”

Kelly had friends he socialized with at the post office. Kelly heard that Sherrill was in trouble with management and “‘was a guy on the carrier team who was physically not able to do the work, physically or mentally,’” Kelly said.

“There’s a lot of mental organization that goes into the task of carrying the mail.”

Heighten your awareness

Violence in the workplace has become a hot topic of safety for business, industry, schools, college campuses and places of worship, said John White, the health and safety coordinator for business and industry at Francis Tuttle.

“Homicide in the work environment is probably the No. 2 killer in the work environment today,” said White, who teaches a course on workplace violence.

Most businesses take measures to prevent workplace violence, White said. But people living in a free society are free to come and go any place within the guidelines of the law, he said.

“I would simply suggest, heighten your awareness, be aware of your surroundings,” White said. “And don’t go into a state of denial that it won’t ever happen to you.”

The 14 victims at the Edmond Post Office were simply going through their normal daily routine.

Some businesses have a code system or lock-down plan in place to alert their staff of sudden danger, White said. Some code systems are universal within their industry. FEMA has recommended verbal warnings be in plain language instead of using vocal messages such as “code blue,” said Jeff Knapp, Francis Tuttle media relations coordinator.

“First of all visitors don’t know what that means — they don’t know you should take shelter now and employees forget,” Knapp said. “You might have a new employee and they don’t know what that means.”

The sudden in-your-face aggression of a violent coworker or client will startle people, White said. He encourages business and industry to be prepared by practicing verbal role play for safety preparedness.

“Don’t just be stunned and not know what to do,” White said. Call the police if reasonable attempts to find a solution fails to de-escalate the fuse of violence, White said.

“It could be a situation of survival of the fittest,” he said.

A need for counseling

Growing numbers of businesses have a plan to assist their employees with counseling, White said. 

“There are HR people that are exceptionally well trained in how to take that person and get them help,” White said. “There are resources for people that are hurting.”

The Postal Service entered into a contract with a mental health provider in the days following the 1986 massacre, Kelly said. Edmond postal workers could get free mental health therapy breaks during their working hours provided by North Care with the cost charged to the postal service, Kelly said. About a week later the Edmond Post Office would designate these “stress breaks” to be taken when an employee was not being paid to work, Kelly said.

The Postal Service continues to offer an Employee Assistance Program for help on any work-related issue, Kelly said.

“One time when I was a window clerk, I felt threatened by another window clerk,” Kelly said. So he visited the EAP on the clock. A fair solution stipulated that the other clerk at the Oklahoma City Post Office would not talk to Kelly about anything but postal matters, Kelly said.

Kelly’s experiences have led him to believe all employers should provide mental health care to all employees on an as needed basis, especially in work environments that carry a high level of stress. Management would get in return a more loyal, healthy and productive workforce, Kelly said.

“I remember the tremendous amount of support that the town of Edmond gave postal employees as individuals and as a collective body,” Kelly said. “The outpouring of love and support was overwhelming and I’ll never forget it.

“It was tangible, it was real and it was powerful.”

James Coburn writes for The Edmond Sun. He was one of the first photographers on scene the morning of the massacre and was in his first year of employment with The Sun. He may be reached at jcoburn@edmondsun.com or by phone at 341-2121, ext. 114