On this day, Aug. 20, in 1986, U.S. Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill shot and killed 14 co-workers and wounded six others before turning a gun on himself in Edmond, Okla.
On the previous afternoon, two supervisors had criticized Sherrill, 44, for making delivery errors. Afterward, he asked a clerk who had been kind to him if she was coming to work the next day. She replied, “Of course.” He told her she should stay home.
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Sherrill began his rampage by gunning down one of the supervisors.
The other supervisor had overslept and arrived as the killings were taking place. The incident, which capped off a string of 35 homicides in 11 post offices between 1983 and 1986, inspired the slang term “going postal.” – Scott McCabe
