Speaker 1: We have an active shooter.
Speaker 2: We have an actor shooting's go ahead of a player
Speaker 2: that's a mass casually.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Active Shooter, a podcast that covers the whys,
Speaker 3: the hows, and the aftermath of active shooter and mass
Speaker 3: casualty events. They have an active shooter and a building
Speaker 3: A teching call. That's the our big attack of the
Speaker 3: shot six tens.
Speaker 1: We got chuck fire at four fifteen asl Brouge ninety one.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, oh, I'm at a fire.
Speaker 1: Active shooter.
Speaker 4: It's of an active shooter, active shooter, active shooter and
Speaker 4: mass casualty incidents.
Speaker 3: Thank you for listening.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Active Shooter, a podcast that may
Speaker 2: contain adult themes, explicit language, and graphic depictions of violence.
Speaker 2: Portions of this show may be traumatic for those under eighteen.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 4: Back in nineteen eighty six, that part time employee killed
Speaker 4: fourteen people and injured another six. Authorities say he later
Speaker 4: turned the gun on himself. This was just one of
Speaker 4: a number of post office shootings during that decade.
Speaker 1: The phrase going postal is a slang term that has
Speaker 1: been used in American culture for decades. While it is
Speaker 1: often said in jest, it carries a more serious meaning
Speaker 1: in the workplace, suggesting that an individual becomes so frustrated
Speaker 1: that they resort to violence. Many people are unaware of
Speaker 1: the origins of this phrase. The term originated from a
Speaker 1: tragic event that occurred on Wednesday, August twenty, nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 1: when a shooting took place at the Edmund Post Office
Speaker 1: in Edmund, Oklahoma. This horrific massacre targeted nearly ninety unsuspecting
Speaker 1: postal workers and was carried out by one of their own.
Speaker 1: It resulted in a tremendous loss of life and remains
Speaker 1: the deadliest workplace shooting to date, and it led to
Speaker 1: the coining of the phrase going postal. Today's case is
Speaker 1: dedicated to the memory of the fourteen deceased victims and
Speaker 1: the six surviving workers.
Speaker 3: Active Shooter the podcast is a High five Holly production
Speaker 3: and I'm your host JT. If you've listened to our
Speaker 3: prior episodes, you know that the Active Shooter podcast team
Speaker 3: has taken the no notoriety pledge and we will not
Speaker 3: be sharing the real name of the shooters that we covered.
Speaker 3: We will be giving the shooters a pseudonym and refer
Speaker 3: to them by that name throughout the episode. This will
Speaker 3: help in clearing up any confusion in the story. While
Speaker 3: remaining true to our pledge and not naming the shooter
Speaker 3: by their actual name, we will refer to today's shooter
Speaker 3: as Jeff. Wednesday, August twentieth, nineteen eighty six was a
Speaker 3: hot day in Edmund, Oklahoma. The day was cloudy from
Speaker 3: sunrise to set, but the temperatures hovered in the mid
Speaker 3: nineties nearly as long. There was a clear patch from
Speaker 3: about noon to two, but still it was a business
Speaker 3: day and many residents didn't get the opportunity to enjoy
Speaker 3: the brief period of sun At the Edmund Post Office,
Speaker 3: located on two two hundred North Broadway, it was business
Speaker 3: as usual. The location employed about ninety three employees, and
Speaker 3: on that Wednesday, there were anywhere from eighty to ninety
Speaker 3: employees working part time. Employee Jeff was an imposing man
Speaker 3: who stood six foot two with a stocky build. He
Speaker 3: had a bald head and a full mustache. He arrived
Speaker 3: at work at six fifty five am toting a mailbag
Speaker 3: that carried a Ruger Mk to twenty two caliber semi
Speaker 3: automatic pistol and two forty five caliber M nineteen eleven pistols,
Speaker 3: a Remington and a Colt. Jeff was sick and tired
Speaker 3: of having meetings at work, meetings where he was written
Speaker 3: up or got into trouble for one infraction or another,
Speaker 3: so he intended to air his grievances in the most
Speaker 3: public and terrifying way imaginable. Shortly after seven in the morning,
Speaker 3: Jeff saw Richard Esser Junior in the park lot a
Speaker 3: short distance from the back entrance of the post office. Richard,
Speaker 3: along with Bill Bland, were two supervisors who had a
Speaker 3: meeting to verbally reprimand Jeff the day prior, making them
Speaker 3: both targets for his revenge. Although Bill was nowhere to
Speaker 3: be seen, Richard was heading into the building when Jeff
Speaker 3: shot and killed him. Bill was running late that day,
Speaker 3: He overslept and arrived after the shooting was over. Minutes
Speaker 3: after shooting Richard, Jeff entered the back entrance to the
Speaker 3: post office, brandishing one of the pistols, and he locked
Speaker 3: the door behind him as he entered. He started shooting
Speaker 3: as he paced from one work area to another, reloading
Speaker 3: multiple times along the way. Employees ducked behind the mass
Speaker 3: of plastic counters, which were situated in a horseshoe shaped
Speaker 3: room used for sorting. At seven o three a m.
Speaker 3: Several employees escaped from the building, while those inside desperately
Speaker 3: sought out a place to hide. Two minutes later, police
Speaker 3: were dispatched to the post office after being alerted of
Speaker 3: shots fired. Only one minute later police arrived on scene,
Speaker 3: and by ten minutes after seven in the morning, hostage
Speaker 3: negotiators arrived along with a SWAT team.
Speaker 1: A command post was quickly established and police spent the
Speaker 1: following forty five minutes trying to make contact by bullhorn
Speaker 1: and phone with someone on the inside. After no success
Speaker 1: in making contact, police commanders issued in order to storm
Speaker 1: the building. At eight fifteen, A team of five assembled
Speaker 1: and at eight thirty they entered the post office by
Speaker 1: the side entrance using a postal department key. Within a minute,
Speaker 1: they reported that the shooter was located and deceased. Jeff
Speaker 1: shot nearly the entire time he was locked inside of
Speaker 1: the post office, killing another thirteen of his coworkers in
Speaker 1: his rampage. It was only as police entered the post
Speaker 1: office that Jeff Yeff took his own life. Police did
Speaker 1: not fire a single bullet. A reunification center was established
Speaker 1: at the nearby city Hall, and relatives were called into
Speaker 1: a makeshift waiting room one by one to identify their
Speaker 1: loved one's body. The sheer horror and heartbreak of having
Speaker 1: to ensure such moments is beyond comprehension. Over one hundred
Speaker 1: pieces of mail were smeared or splashed with bloodstains, and
Speaker 1: it's unknown what happened to each of the defaced mail pieces.
Speaker 1: Among the injured survivors were forty year old William Nemo,
Speaker 1: who sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was
Speaker 1: rushed to Edmund Memorial Hospital in critical condition after the shooting.
Speaker 1: Forty year old Judith Walker suffered gunshot wounds to her
Speaker 1: chest and right hand. Fifty four year old Jean Bray
Speaker 1: was shot in the lower back and right flank. He
Speaker 1: was rushed to the hospital in stable but serious condition.
Speaker 1: Twenty three year old Stephen Vick was shot in the
Speaker 1: lower abdomen and required emergency surgery, but was in fair
Speaker 1: condition when he was brought to the hospital. Eva Joyce
Speaker 1: Ingram was shot in the right arm and neck. The
Speaker 1: forty five year old woman was rushed to the hospital
Speaker 1: in fair condition, but immediately underwent surgery. Finally, thirty six
Speaker 1: year old Michael Bigler was treated for superficial back wounds
Speaker 1: and was released from the hospital rather quickly. Forty one
Speaker 1: year old Patricia Ann Chambers was born in April second,
Speaker 1: nineteen forty four and worked at the post Office as
Speaker 1: a part time. She was survived by her husband and
Speaker 1: two children. Forty one year old Judy Stephen Denny was
Speaker 1: a part time clerk who moved to Oklahoma only two
Speaker 1: months earlier with her husband. She was employed by the
Speaker 1: Post Office only four days before she was murdered. Judy's
Speaker 1: spouse was a twenty year service veteran who was promoted
Speaker 1: and had been transferred in June. Thirty eight year old
Speaker 1: Richard Rick c. Eser, Junior was a Vietnam veteran from Sedalia,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma who loved to tend his garden. After being employed
Speaker 1: with the Post Office for six years, Rick was recently
Speaker 1: promoted to supervisor before his murder. Patricia pat A. Gabbard
Speaker 1: was a full time postal clerk and had only worked
Speaker 1: for the Post Office for about five months before she
Speaker 1: was murdered. She was a free spirit who wrote poetry
Speaker 1: and was described as a friendly person who got along
Speaker 1: with everyone she met. The forty seven year old divorced
Speaker 1: mother of two daughters loved to travel. JOHNA. Gregort Hamilton
Speaker 1: was thirty years old and loved her job at the
Speaker 1: post office. The beloved daughter of John and Joyce Gregort. JOHNA.
Speaker 1: Was outgoing and wore a perpetual smile. Forty eight year
Speaker 1: old Patty Jean Husband was a supervisor at the post office.
Speaker 1: She dreamed of raising horses and adored her eighteen year
Speaker 1: old cat, whom she lovingly referred to as her baby.
Speaker 1: Everyone who knew her loved Patty. Thirty four year old
Speaker 1: Betty Ann Jared was a clerk at the post office.
Speaker 1: She started working for the post office nine years earlier
Speaker 1: in Rocky Ford, Colorado, and transferred to the Edmund branch
Speaker 1: about five years before the shooting. The religious woman loved
Speaker 1: to prepare Mexican food, and she especially loved to travel.
Speaker 1: Thirty year old William billy F. Miller was a native
Speaker 1: of Oklahoma City and was a full time rural route carrier.
Speaker 1: He graduated from Piedmont High School in nineteen seventy four
Speaker 1: before attending the Canadian valley area of Votech School. Billy
Speaker 1: was a proud member of the National Rural Letter Carriers
Speaker 1: Association and was a former member of the Piedmont Volunteer
Speaker 1: Fire Department. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
Speaker 1: Kenneth W. Morley was a forty nine year old full
Speaker 1: time mail carrier. He raised Arabian horses with his wife, Judy,
Speaker 1: and the couple loved their life together. Judy was also
Speaker 1: employed by the Post Office, but she was uninjured during
Speaker 1: the rampage, making her loss uniquely poignant. The couple had
Speaker 1: a college aged son and several cats. Leroy Phillips was
Speaker 1: a forty two year old man who was employed by
Speaker 1: the Post Office for only about three months before the shooting.
Speaker 1: He retired from the Air Force the previous August after
Speaker 1: an impressive twenty three years of service. Leroy is survived
Speaker 1: by his two sons and wife. Fifty one year old
Speaker 1: Jerry Ralph Pyle was a rural mail carrier for about
Speaker 1: twelve years. He was funny and extremely dedicated to his job.
Speaker 1: The family man thought of and spoke about his children
Speaker 1: and grandchildren frequently. He began his career with the Post
Speaker 1: Office as a window clerk Thirty three year old Paul
Speaker 1: Michael Mike Rockney was from Edmund, Oklahoma. He was the
Speaker 1: grandson of Notre Dame football coach Newt Rockney and a
Speaker 1: graduate of Oklahoma State University. Paul was a Vietnam vett
Speaker 1: who was employed by the post Office for five years
Speaker 1: before he was taken from his best friend and wife, Linda,
Speaker 1: and their seven year old son, Damien. Thirty one year
Speaker 1: old Thomas Wade Schader Junior was a part time postal
Speaker 1: clerk who originally hailed from Arlington, Virginia. He graduated from
Speaker 1: James Madison High School in Arlington in nineteen seventy one
Speaker 1: and then enlisted in the US Air Force in Colorado Springs.
Speaker 1: He moved to Oklahoma from Minnesota about two years before
Speaker 1: the shooting. He was an avid cyclist and an extremely
Speaker 1: proud member of the Oklahoma Bicycle Society of Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1: Twenty seven year old Patty Lou Welch was a full
Speaker 1: time clerk who was married to Randy Welch. The couple
Speaker 1: had just gotten married in April before the shooting. Born
Speaker 1: and raised in Lawton, Oklahoma, Patty graduated Lawton High before
Speaker 1: she attended Cameron University, and she was taking more classes
Speaker 1: at Oklahoma City Community College. She worked for the post
Speaker 1: Office for about five years leading up to the shooting.
Speaker 1: Forty four year old Jeff was born on November fourteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, in Watonga, Oklahoma. He graduated from Harding
Speaker 1: High School in Oklahoma City before attending the University of
Speaker 1: Oklahoma from nineteen fifty nine to nineteen sixty. He transferred
Speaker 1: to Central State University from nineteen sixty seven to nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy before finishing up at Oklahoma City Southwestern Junior College,
Speaker 1: where he was enrolled from nineteen seventy to nineteen seventy one.
Speaker 1: During his break from educational pursuits, Jeff served in the
Speaker 1: Marine Corps from January nineteen sixty four to December nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty six. He claimed that he was a Vietnam Vet,
Speaker 1: but that was a lie. Jeff never served outside of
Speaker 1: the United States. He trained as a communications and electronics
Speaker 1: technician at Campbella June in North Carolina and was honorably discharged.
Speaker 1: Those who had a general knowledge of him say Jeff
Speaker 1: was best described as a loaner. He had no criminal
Speaker 1: record and seemed happiest when he served in the Corps,
Speaker 1: so he eventually joined the five oh seven, a tactical
Speaker 1: fighter group of the Air Force Reserve at Tinker Air
Speaker 1: Force Base in Oklahoma, as a small arms instructor. He
Speaker 1: left the Reserves and joined the Guard on October thirteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four. Jeff spent much of his career handling
Speaker 1: firearms and became an expert marksman, even joining the pistol
Speaker 1: team while in the Oklahoma Air National Guard. His exploits
Speaker 1: with the Reserve seemed to have a significant impact on
Speaker 1: Jeff because his neighbors say that he often would sneak
Speaker 1: around the neighborhood at night, dressed in full camouflage, peeking
Speaker 1: into the windows of his startled neighbors. Some believed that
Speaker 1: Jeff kidnapped their animals and tied them up with bailing
Speaker 1: wire so his own dog, a Dalmatian, could mutilate them.
Speaker 1: It's not clear how the neighbors knew this was Jeff
Speaker 1: or why nothing was reported to the police. It's equally
Speaker 1: unknown whether things were reported and simply deemed not serious.
Speaker 1: Either way, Jeff intimidated people. He made them nervous. He
Speaker 1: peered intently to the point of downright staring at others,
Speaker 1: making people entirely uncomfortable in his presence. He had a
Speaker 1: borderline obsession with weapons of all kinds. He also had
Speaker 1: an obsession with bicycles and radios. Jeff was known to
Speaker 1: collect everything he found and kept electronic components and pieces,
Speaker 1: miscellaneous tools, and small pieces of junk machinery. The garage
Speaker 1: in the back of his house was filled with his junk,
Speaker 1: including a rusted out Buick and Evolvo. There was also
Speaker 1: a Honda motorcycle, a couple of washing machines, and two lawnmowers.
Speaker 1: He was the proverbial hoarder, and when his house was
Speaker 1: searched later investigators described his house as quote reeking of
Speaker 1: accumulated filth, as the floor was littered with dirty laundry,
Speaker 1: junked radio pieces were strewn all over the kitchen counters,
Speaker 1: and his yard had four high grain radio antennas sticking out.
Speaker 1: Creeped out neighbors say that Jeff would stand in his
Speaker 1: front door, illuminated by his porch light, and he stared
Speaker 1: out into the street wearing only a pair of underwear.
Speaker 1: One neighbor said that Jeff often went out at night
Speaker 1: riding his bicycle up and down the street while muttering
Speaker 1: and seeming very angry. He spoke of women in obscene
Speaker 1: ways and a classic misogynist, He rarely, if ever dated.
Speaker 1: He didn't have a girlfriend that anyone was aware of.
Speaker 1: He dressed casually, even for work, and by casual we
Speaker 1: mean shorts, jogging pants, and T shirts, and he nearly
Speaker 1: always wore a military belt with a gun tucked inside.
Speaker 1: Jeff lived in a small, nondescript home, which was the
Speaker 1: same place he had lived for twenty seven years. He
Speaker 1: inherited the home from his mother, though he lived with
Speaker 1: her until her passing some handful of years. Before the shooting,
Speaker 1: he worked a variety of jobs, including radio repair, fixing
Speaker 1: traffic lights, and he even worked in a stock room
Speaker 1: at the American Cancer Society From about nineteen seventy two
Speaker 1: to nineteen eighty one. Jeff volunteered his radio skills to
Speaker 1: the Red Cross, which was used in times of emergency.
Speaker 1: In April of nineteen eighty five, Jeff landed a job
Speaker 1: at the Edmund Post Office as a mail carrier. After
Speaker 1: the shooting, postal officials claimed that Jeff was on the
Speaker 1: verge of being fired due to his poor performance. He
Speaker 1: was actually hired by the Post Office as a letter
Speaker 1: sorting machine operator in Oklahoma City in February of nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty two. He failed to qualify on the machine, and
Speaker 1: he resigned after about eighty nine days, which was a
Speaker 1: mere day before his ninety day probationary period ended. He
Speaker 1: was later rehired as a mail carrier, and he quickly
Speaker 1: proved to have difficulty with that job as well. He
Speaker 1: struggled to learn and ended up being disciplined on numerous occasions.
Speaker 1: As mentioned, Jeff was reprimanded the day before the shooting,
Speaker 1: but also earlier in the year he got into trouble
Speaker 1: for shooting mace at a dog on his mail route.
Speaker 1: Before the shooting, Jeff was informed that if his performance
Speaker 1: didn't improve seriously and soon, he would be let go.
Speaker 1: Coworkers say that Jeff was difficult to get along with,
Speaker 1: describing him as antisocial, never laughing and rarely even smiling.
Speaker 1: When his house was searched, police located several weapons, numerous
Speaker 1: pairs of camouflage pants, videotapes, and books. The Post Office
Speaker 1: swiftly hired a cleaning service to remove the blood smeared
Speaker 1: walls and scrub blood soaked floors. And they reopened only
Speaker 1: twenty five hours after the shooting. Now employees weren't required
Speaker 1: to report back to work immediately, but a minister and
Speaker 1: psychologist were brought in to assist those who did. We
Speaker 1: all have the unique ability to help prevent such a
Speaker 1: catastrophic event from happening if we keep our eyes and
Speaker 1: ears open and never hesitate to report when something or
Speaker 1: someone just doesn't seem right. With the delicate balance of
Speaker 1: mental health reform, education, active shooter training, and common sense
Speaker 1: gun laws, we may one day realize the dream, the
Speaker 1: dream that there will be no more active shootings. We
Speaker 1: pray that love will prevail over hate.
Speaker 3: Too many have died, we should say to ourselves, not
Speaker 3: one more.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, we urge our listeners to stay aware
Speaker 1: of your surroundings and keep in touch with your loved ones.
Speaker 1: If you see something, say something, you never know how
Speaker 1: many lives you'll be saving.
Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to today's episode of Active Shooter
Speaker 3: the podcast. Remember, if you see something, say something, there's
Speaker 3: no telling how many lives you may be saving. A
Speaker 3: big thank you to Darren Curtis, who composed some of
Speaker 3: the songs on our show. You can find him online
Speaker 3: at www dot Darrencurtis music dot com. Make sure to
Speaker 3: check us out on social media. You can find us
Speaker 3: on Facebook at Active Shooter the Podcast and on Twitter
Speaker 3: at podcast Active. Thank you and be safe.