EDMOND — Today marks the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Edmond Post Office Massacre that coined the phrase “Going Postal.”
Exactly one year ago today, a 44-year-old part-time mail carrier shot and killed 14 people and injured six in the downtown Edmond Post Office. The gunman, Patrick Sherrill, died by suicide in the building after the 15-minute assault.
The massacre led to the widespread phrase “Going Postal,” and at the time, it was one of the worst mass murders by a single individual in U.S. history. The phrase references any mail carrier who commits violence in the workplace, and it worked its way into the common nomenclature.
After the incident, the U.S. government and the U.S. Postal Service added facility security, crisis management, hiring and screening protocols, and tougher sentences for killing federal employees. Over the next seven years, there were six more post office shootings, including two in one day in two different states — Michigan and California.
