[121] Edmond Post Office, Edmond, Oklahoma

in Edmund, Oklahoma. This horrific massacre targeted nearly ninety unsuspecting postal workers and was carried out by one of their own. It resulted in a tremendous loss of life and remains the deadliest workplace shooting to date, and it led to the coining of the phrase going postal. Today's case is dedicated to the memory of the fourteen deceased victims and the six surviving workers.

help in clearing up any confusion in the story. While remaining true to our pledge and not naming the shooter by their actual name, we will refer to today's shooter as Jeff. Wednesday, August twentieth, nineteen eighty six was a hot day in Edmund, Oklahoma. The day was cloudy from sunrise to set, but the temperatures hovered in the mid

nineties nearly as long. There was a clear patch from about noon to two, but still it was a business day and many residents didn't get the opportunity to enjoy the brief period of sun At the Edmund Post Office, located on two two hundred North Broadway, it was business as usual. The location employed about ninety three employees, and on that Wednesday, there were anywhere from eighty to ninety employees working part time. Employee Jeff was an imposing man

who stood six foot two with a stocky build. He had a bald head and a full mustache. He arrived at work at six fifty five am toting a mailbag that carried a Ruger Mk to twenty two caliber semi automatic pistol and two forty five caliber M nineteen eleven pistols, a Remington and a Colt. Jeff was sick and tired of having meetings at work, meetings where he was written up or got into trouble for one infraction or another, so he intended to air his grievances in the most

public and terrifying way imaginable. Shortly after seven in the morning, Jeff saw Richard Esser Junior in the park lot a short distance from the back entrance of the post office. Richard, along with Bill Bland, were two supervisors who had a meeting to verbally reprimand Jeff the day prior, making them both targets for his revenge. Although Bill was nowhere to be seen, Richard was heading into the building when Jeff shot and killed him. Bill was running late that day,

He overslept and arrived after the shooting was over. Minutes after shooting Richard, Jeff entered the back entrance to the post office, brandishing one of the pistols, and he locked the door behind him as he entered. He started shooting as he paced from one work area to another, reloading multiple times along the way. Employees ducked behind the mass of plastic counters, which were situated in a horseshoe shaped

room used for sorting. At seven o three a m. Several employees escaped from the building, while those inside desperately sought out a place to hide. Two minutes later, police were dispatched to the post office after being alerted of shots fired. Only one minute later police arrived on scene, and by ten minutes after seven in the morning, hostage negotiators arrived along with a SWAT team.

they reported that the shooter was located and deceased. Jeff shot nearly the entire time he was locked inside of the post office, killing another thirteen of his coworkers in his rampage. It was only as police entered the post office that Jeff Yeff took his own life. Police did not fire a single bullet. A reunification center was established at the nearby city Hall, and relatives were called into a makeshift waiting room one by one to identify their

loved one's body. The sheer horror and heartbreak of having to ensure such moments is beyond comprehension. Over one hundred pieces of mail were smeared or splashed with bloodstains, and it's unknown what happened to each of the defaced mail pieces. Among the injured survivors were forty year old William Nemo, who sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was rushed to Edmund Memorial Hospital in critical condition after the shooting.

Forty year old Judith Walker suffered gunshot wounds to her chest and right hand. Fifty four year old Jean Bray was shot in the lower back and right flank. He was rushed to the hospital in stable but serious condition. Twenty three year old Stephen Vick was shot in the lower abdomen and required emergency surgery, but was in fair condition when he was brought to the hospital. Eva Joyce Ingram was shot in the right arm and neck. The forty five year old woman was rushed to the hospital

in fair condition, but immediately underwent surgery. Finally, thirty six year old Michael Bigler was treated for superficial back wounds and was released from the hospital rather quickly. Forty one year old Patricia Ann Chambers was born in April second, nineteen forty four and worked at the post Office as a part time. She was survived by her husband and two children. Forty one year old Judy Stephen Denny was a part time clerk who moved to Oklahoma only two

months earlier with her husband. She was employed by the Post Office only four days before she was murdered. Judy's spouse was a twenty year service veteran who was promoted and had been transferred in June. Thirty eight year old Richard Rick c. Eser, Junior was a Vietnam veteran from Sedalia, Oklahoma who loved to tend his garden. After being employed with the Post Office for six years, Rick was recently

promoted to supervisor before his murder. Patricia pat A. Gabbard was a full time postal clerk and had only worked for the Post Office for about five months before she was murdered. She was a free spirit who wrote poetry and was described as a friendly person who got along with everyone she met. The forty seven year old divorced mother of two daughters loved to travel. JOHNA. Gregort Hamilton was thirty years old and loved her job at the

post office. The beloved daughter of John and Joyce Gregort. JOHNA. Was outgoing and wore a perpetual smile. Forty eight year old Patty Jean Husband was a supervisor at the post office. She dreamed of raising horses and adored her eighteen year old cat, whom she lovingly referred to as her baby. Everyone who knew her loved Patty. Thirty four year old Betty Ann Jared was a clerk at the post office.

She started working for the post office nine years earlier in Rocky Ford, Colorado, and transferred to the Edmund branch about five years before the shooting. The religious woman loved to prepare Mexican food, and she especially loved to travel. Thirty year old William billy F. Miller was a native of Oklahoma City and was a full time rural route carrier. He graduated from Piedmont High School in nineteen seventy four

before attending the Canadian valley area of Votech School. Billy was a proud member of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association and was a former member of the Piedmont Volunteer Fire Department. He is survived by his wife and daughter. Kenneth W. Morley was a forty nine year old full time mail carrier. He raised Arabian horses with his wife, Judy, and the couple loved their life together. Judy was also employed by the Post Office, but she was uninjured during

the rampage, making her loss uniquely poignant. The couple had a college aged son and several cats. Leroy Phillips was a forty two year old man who was employed by the Post Office for only about three months before the shooting. He retired from the Air Force the previous August after an impressive twenty three years of service. Leroy is survived by his two sons and wife. Fifty one year old Jerry Ralph Pyle was a rural mail carrier for about

twelve years. He was funny and extremely dedicated to his job. The family man thought of and spoke about his children and grandchildren frequently. He began his career with the Post Office as a window clerk Thirty three year old Paul Michael Mike Rockney was from Edmund, Oklahoma. He was the grandson of Notre Dame football coach Newt Rockney and a

graduate of Oklahoma State University. Paul was a Vietnam vett who was employed by the post Office for five years before he was taken from his best friend and wife, Linda, and their seven year old son, Damien. Thirty one year old Thomas Wade Schader Junior was a part time postal clerk who originally hailed from Arlington, Virginia. He graduated from James Madison High School in Arlington in nineteen seventy one and then enlisted in the US Air Force in Colorado Springs.

He moved to Oklahoma from Minnesota about two years before the shooting. He was an avid cyclist and an extremely proud member of the Oklahoma Bicycle Society of Oklahoma City. Twenty seven year old Patty Lou Welch was a full time clerk who was married to Randy Welch. The couple had just gotten married in April before the shooting. Born and raised in Lawton, Oklahoma, Patty graduated Lawton High before she attended Cameron University, and she was taking more classes

at Oklahoma City Community College. She worked for the post Office for about five years leading up to the shooting. Forty four year old Jeff was born on November fourteenth, nineteen forty one, in Watonga, Oklahoma. He graduated from Harding High School in Oklahoma City before attending the University of

Oklahoma from nineteen fifty nine to nineteen sixty. He transferred to Central State University from nineteen sixty seven to nineteen seventy before finishing up at Oklahoma City Southwestern Junior College, where he was enrolled from nineteen seventy to nineteen seventy one. During his break from educational pursuits, Jeff served in the Marine Corps from January nineteen sixty four to December nineteen sixty six. He claimed that he was a Vietnam Vet,

but that was a lie. Jeff never served outside of the United States. He trained as a communications and electronics technician at Campbella June in North Carolina and was honorably discharged. Those who had a general knowledge of him say Jeff was best described as a loaner. He had no criminal record and seemed happiest when he served in the Corps, so he eventually joined the five oh seven, a tactical fighter group of the Air Force Reserve at Tinker Air

Force Base in Oklahoma, as a small arms instructor. He left the Reserves and joined the Guard on October thirteenth, nineteen eighty four. Jeff spent much of his career handling firearms and became an expert marksman, even joining the pistol team while in the Oklahoma Air National Guard. His exploits with the Reserve seemed to have a significant impact on Jeff because his neighbors say that he often would sneak around the neighborhood at night, dressed in full camouflage, peeking

into the windows of his startled neighbors. Some believed that Jeff kidnapped their animals and tied them up with bailing wire so his own dog, a Dalmatian, could mutilate them. It's not clear how the neighbors knew this was Jeff or why nothing was reported to the police. It's equally unknown whether things were reported and simply deemed not serious. Either way, Jeff intimidated people. He made them nervous. He peered intently to the point of downright staring at others,

making people entirely uncomfortable in his presence. He had a borderline obsession with weapons of all kinds. He also had an obsession with bicycles and radios. Jeff was known to collect everything he found and kept electronic components and pieces, miscellaneous tools, and small pieces of junk machinery. The garage in the back of his house was filled with his junk, including a rusted out Buick and Evolvo. There was also a Honda motorcycle, a couple of washing machines, and two lawnmowers.

He was the proverbial hoarder, and when his house was searched later investigators described his house as quote reeking of accumulated filth, as the floor was littered with dirty laundry, junked radio pieces were strewn all over the kitchen counters, and his yard had four high grain radio antennas sticking out. Creeped out neighbors say that Jeff would stand in his front door, illuminated by his porch light, and he stared out into the street wearing only a pair of underwear.

One neighbor said that Jeff often went out at night riding his bicycle up and down the street while muttering and seeming very angry. He spoke of women in obscene ways and a classic misogynist, He rarely, if ever dated. He didn't have a girlfriend that anyone was aware of. He dressed casually, even for work, and by casual we mean shorts, jogging pants, and T shirts, and he nearly always wore a military belt with a gun tucked inside. Jeff lived in a small, nondescript home, which was the

same place he had lived for twenty seven years. He inherited the home from his mother, though he lived with her until her passing some handful of years. Before the shooting, he worked a variety of jobs, including radio repair, fixing traffic lights, and he even worked in a stock room at the American Cancer Society From about nineteen seventy two to nineteen eighty one. Jeff volunteered his radio skills to the Red Cross, which was used in times of emergency.

In April of nineteen eighty five, Jeff landed a job at the Edmund Post Office as a mail carrier. After the shooting, postal officials claimed that Jeff was on the verge of being fired due to his poor performance. He was actually hired by the Post Office as a letter sorting machine operator in Oklahoma City in February of nineteen eighty two. He failed to qualify on the machine, and he resigned after about eighty nine days, which was a

mere day before his ninety day probationary period ended. He was later rehired as a mail carrier, and he quickly proved to have difficulty with that job as well. He struggled to learn and ended up being disciplined on numerous occasions. As mentioned, Jeff was reprimanded the day before the shooting, but also earlier in the year he got into trouble for shooting mace at a dog on his mail route.

Before the shooting, Jeff was informed that if his performance didn't improve seriously and soon, he would be let go. Coworkers say that Jeff was difficult to get along with, describing him as antisocial, never laughing and rarely even smiling. When his house was searched, police located several weapons, numerous pairs of camouflage pants, videotapes, and books. The Post Office swiftly hired a cleaning service to remove the blood smeared

walls and scrub blood soaked floors. And they reopened only twenty five hours after the shooting. Now employees weren't required to report back to work immediately, but a minister and psychologist were brought in to assist those who did. We all have the unique ability to help prevent such a catastrophic event from happening if we keep our eyes and ears open and never hesitate to report when something or

someone just doesn't seem right. With the delicate balance of mental health reform, education, active shooter training, and common sense gun laws, we may one day realize the dream, the dream that there will be no more active shootings. We pray that love will prevail over hate.