by R. J. Parker
On foot, Ryan roamed the streets firing at people. Marjorie Jackson was shot as she watched Ryan from the window of her living room, and fourteen year old Lisa Mildenhall was shot by Ryan in both legs as she stood outside her home. Mildenhall would recall that Ryan smiled at her before crouching and shooting. After pulling Dorothy Smith, seventy-seven, into her home, Marjorie Jackson telephoned George White, a colleague of her husband, Ivor Jackson. She informed Mr. White that she had been injured. Her husband insisted on returning home and George offered to drive him. On the trail towards the Common, Ryan encountered a family walking their dog. Upon seeing Ryan with his weapons, Kenneth Clements, fifty-one, raised his arms in a gesture of surrender as his family climbed over a wall and ran to safety. Ryan ignored the signal and killed Clements, who fell to the ground still clutching the leash of his dog.
Returning back to South View, Ryan fired twenty-three rounds at Officer Roger Brereton, who had just arrived at the scene in response to reports of gunfire. Brereton was hit four times and his car veered and crashed into a telephone pole. He died sitting in his patrol car, radioing to his colleagues that he had been shot. Ryan next turned his weapons on Linda Chapman and her teenage daughter, Alison, who had turned onto South View moments after Brereton was shot. Ryan fired eleven rounds from his semi-automatic into their Volvo 360; the bullets travelled through the bonnet of the car, hitting Alison in her right thigh. Ryan also shot through the windscreen, hitting Linda in the left shoulder. As Ryan reloaded his weapons, Linda reversed the car, exited South View, and drove to the local doctor's office, crashing into a tree outside the surgery. A bullet was found lodged at the base of Alison's spine. During an operation to remove it, surgeons decided that the risk of paralysis was too great, and the bullet was left in place.
Just after Linda and Alison Chapman had driven away, George White's Toyota drove towards Ryan, Ivor Jackson in the passenger seat. Ryan opened fire with his Type 56 Rifle, leaving White dead and Ivor Jackson brutally injured. White's Toyota crashed into the rear of Officer Brereton's Police Car. Ivor Jackson pretended to be dead and hoped that Ryan would not move in for a closer look.
Ryan continued on and came out on Fairview Road, killing Abdul Rahman Khan, eighty-four, who was mowing his lawn, and proceeded to shoot and injure his next door neighbour, Alan Lepetit. Ryan then shot at an ambulance which had just arrived, shattering the window and injuring emergency paramedic Hazel Haslett, but Haslett sped away before Ryan was able to fire at her again. A crowd had now gathered, and Ryan proceeded to fire at windows and shoot at people who appeared on the street. He then shot and wounded Mrs. Betty Tolladay who had stepped out of her house to rebuke Ryan; she had assumed Ryan had been shooting at paper targets in the woods.
The police were now informed about the happenstances in the neighborhood, but their evacuation plan was not fully successful. A police helicopter took off and followed Ryan's movements almost an hour after he set his home on fire, and was hindered by media helicopters and journalists responding to reports of the attacks. A single police officer managed to monitor Ryan and his artillery; he recommended that armed police be used as Ryan's armaments were beyond the capabilities of Hungerford Police Station's scant firearms locker. On Hungerford Common, Ryan went on to shoot and kill a young father of two, Francis Butler, twenty-six, as he walked his dog. He also shot at teenager Andrew Cadle, but missed the boy, allowing Cadle to speed away on his bicycle. Taxi- cab driver Marcus Barnard, thirty, slowed down his car as Ryan crossed in front of him. Michael shot him with the Type 56, causing massive damage to his head and killing him. Barnard had been detoured towards the Common by a police diversion as communication between ground forces and the police helicopter remained intermittent.
Ann Honeybone was wounded by a bullet as she drove down Priory Avenue. Ryan then shot at John Storms, an ambulance repairman, who was parked on Priory Avenue, hitting him in the face. Storms crouched below the dashboard of his vehicle; he heard Ryan fire twice more at his van and felt the vehicle shake, but he was not hit again. A local builder named Bob Barclay ran from his nearby house and dragged Storms out of his van and into the safety of his home.
Ryan then walked towards the town center of Hungerford where police were attempting to evacuate the public. During his walk, Ryan killed Douglas Wainwright, sixty-seven, and injured his wife, Kathleen, while they were in their car. Kathleen Wainwright would later say that her husband hit the brakes as soon as the windshield shattered. Ryan fired eight rounds into the Wainwright’s vehicle, hitting Douglas in the head and Kathleen in the chest and hand. Mrs. Wainwright, seeing that her husband was dead, and that Ryan was approaching the car and reloading, unbuckled her seatbelt and ran from the car. The couple had been in town visiting their son, a policeman on the Hungerford force. Kevin Lance was next to be shot; he was hit in the upper arm as he drove his Ford Transit along Tarrant's Hill.
Further up Priory Avenue, handyman Eric Vardy, fifty-one, and his passenger, Steven Ball, drove into Ryan's path while travelling to a job in Vardy's Leyland Sherpa. Ball later recalled that he saw a young man, Kevin Lance, clutching his arm and running into a narrow side street. As Mr. Ball focused on Lance, Ryan shattered the windshield with a burst of bullets. Eric Vardy was hit twice in the neck and upper torso and crashed his van into a wall. Mr. Vardy would later die of shock and hemorrhage from his neck wound. Steven Ball suffered no serious injuries. Throughout his movements, Ryan had also opened fire on a number of other people, some of whom were grazed or wounded. Many of these minor casualties were not counted in the eventual total.
At about 1:30pm, an hour after starting his shooting spree, Ryan crossed Orchard Park Close into Priory Road, firing a single round at a passing red Renault 5. This shot killed the twenty-two year old driver, Sandra Hill. A passing soldier, Carl Harries, rushed to Hill's car and attempted to apply first aid, but Sandra Hill died in his arms. After shooting Hill, Ryan continued to shoot his way into a house further down the Road, killing the occupants, Victor Gibbs, sixty-six, and his wheelchair-bound wife, Myrtle. Ryan also fired shots into neighboring houses from the Gibbs' house, injuring Michael Jennings and Mrs. Myra Geater.
Ryan moved on down Priory Road where he spotted Ian Playle, thirty-four, returning from a shopping trip with his wife and two young children. Playle crashed his car into a stationary car after being shot in the neck by Ryan; his wife and children were unhurt. Soldier Carl Harries again rushed over to administer first aid to Mr. Playle, but again the wound proved to be fatal. After shooting and injuring sixty-six year old, George Noon, while he was in his garden, Ryan broke into the John O' Gaunt Community Technology College, which was empty due to summer holidays. Ryan barricaded himself in a classroom where he once had been a student.
Police surrounded the building and negotiators made contact with Ryan only after he’d taken potshots at circling helicopters. At one point Ryan waved what seemed to be an unpinned grenade at them through the window, though reports differ as to whether Ryan really was armed as such. Police attempted to entice Ryan out of the school, but these attempts failed. At 6:52pm, Ryan committed suicide. One statement Ryan made towards the end of the negotiations was widely reported. He said, "Hungerford must be a bit of a mess. I wish I had stayed in bed." Hungerford is a small community. At the time of the shooting spree, it had a population of about 5500 citizens. It was policed by two sergeants and twelve constables, and on August 19th, 1987, the duty cover for the section consisted of one sergeant, two patrol constables and one station duty officer.
A number of factors hampered the police response:
• The telephone exchange could not handle the number of 999 calls made by witnesses.
• The Thames Valley firearms squad were training forty miles away.
• The police helicopter was in for repair, though was eventually deployed.
• The local police station was undergoing renovations and only two phone lines were in operation at the time.
- 19 - Patrick Henry Sherr
ill
The term “Going Postal” was coined as a result of this killing spree. On August 20th, 1986, Patrick Henry Sherrill, a “disgruntled postal worker,” killed fourteen fellow employees at the United States Post Office in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Sherrill was a recluse and socially incompetent. He was unable to hold a job for long and blamed management for his problems. His fascination with guns was fed by service in the U.S. Marines and active involvement in the Oklahoma Air National Guard, where he became a small arms expert. Aggravated at being officially disciplined by his postal supervisor on numerous occasions, Sherrill had, on two occasions, threatened retribution. After receiving a warning the day before, he reported to work on the morning of August 20th armed with three semi-automatic handguns and ammunition. He entered the facility, shot his Supervisor to death, and tracked his co-workers through the building, killing fourteen and wounding six. He then killed himself.
In 1987, a seven thousand page United States Postal Inspector's Report analyzed the Edmond massacre, and a one-day Congressional Hearing allowed the survivors and families a brief forum on March 18th, 1987. Each concluded that measures should have been in place to profile Sherrill and prevent his hiring, and to apply Occupational Health and Safety Standards and Federal regulations to Postal facilities.
No words can assess or mitigate the shooting's terrible impact on the victims and their families. Emotional and physical recovery was slow but sure. To honor the dead and the survivors, in 1989 the community of Edmond and the United States Postal Service placed a large sculptural memorial on the grounds of the Edmond Post Office. Sculptor Richard Muno depicted a standing man and woman holding a yellow ribbon; they are surrounded by fourteen fountains, one for each victim. The inscription lists the victims: Patricia Ann Chambers, Judy Stephens Denney, Richard C. Esser, Jr., Patricia A. Gabbard, Jonna Ruth Gragert, Patty Jean Husband, Betty Ann Jared, William F. Miller, Kenneth W. Morey, Leroy Orrin Phillips, Jerry Ralph Pyle, Paul Michael Rockne, Thomas Wade Shader, Jr., Patti Lou Welch.
The Edmond incident was one of fifteen homicide incidents by postal employees from 1986 through 1999 in which thirty-four postal workers and six non-employees were killed. In turn, these spawned numerous workplace violence studies by Criminologists, Psychiatrists, and Federal Agencies. New hiring, employee management, and safety practices resulted, and federal law concerning homicide against Federal employees was expanded in 1996 (after the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing) to include all Federal employees.
In perspective, by the year 2000, workplace violence took the lives of an average of one thousand people per year, in all workplace environments. Of those, only .2 percent of incidents involved postal workers. It is ironic and unfortunate that, at the end of the twentieth century, the Edmond Post Office Massacre was most often remembered for instigating the use of the term "going postal" to describe workplace violence in general.
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The following is an excerpt from
Serial Killers Series Boxed Set (4 in 1)
Available in the Kindle Store
Karla Homolka, the eldest of three daughters, was born on May 4th, 1970 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, to Karel and Dorothy Homolka. Paul Bernardo was born on August 27th, 1964 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Marilyn and Kenneth Bernardo. Paul and Karla met in 1987 and married in 1991. Shortly after they married, it was all downhill from there. Author Note: I am not proud to say that this lovely couple is from my country.
Before they started their team rape and killings in 1991, Bernardo already had quite the history of rape, although he was not known to the authorities at that time. Between May 1987 and July 1990, he had raped eighteen young girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty-two.
His first murder victim was Tammy Homolka, Karla's younger sister. Bernardo encouraged Karla to drug her sister. When she did, Bernardo raped her before she woke up. Several months later they drugged Tammy again and both of them raped her, but this time Tammy died after choking on her own vomit. The police ruled it an accidental death, not knowing that before they called 911, Bernardo and Homolka had redressed Tammy and removed any incriminating evidence. Tammy Homolka died at the tender age of fifteen on December 23rd, 1990.
Meet Leslie Mahaffy, a young girl, only fifteen, born on July 5th, 1976, and murdered on June 16th, 1991. Two day before her death, Leslie went out for an evening with a few friends. Her curfew was 10 p.m. as the Scarborough rapist was active and like many parents, Leslie's were afraid. Unfortunately, Leslie was having fun with the girls and ignored the ground rules set up by her parents. Her parents anticipated that she would break curfew and decided to teach her a lesson which they would forever regret. Leslie arrived home after 2 a.m. to find herself locked out of the house. She did not know what to do so she called a friend to see if she could stay over, but her friend's mom told her to go home and face the consequences.
Bernardo was crouched behind a car when Leslie came strolling by. Carrying a hunting knife, he forced her into his car and drove her to his house where he undressed her, blindfolded her, and videotaped her naked. He was going to have vaginal intercourse with Leslie but he ejaculated prematurely. When Karla woke up, he gave her instructions on how he wanted her to have sex with Leslie while he videotaped. This done, he instructed the submissive Karla to film him while he sodomized Leslie. The brute power of his anal penetration caused Leslie to cry hysterically. After twenty-four hours of disgusting rape and torture, the couple killed Leslie and, later that night, Bernardo used a circular saw to dismember her body and place her in cement.
On June 29th, 1991, a couple enjoying canoeing trip on Lake Gibson spotted a concrete block in the water. The cement block had what looked like animal flesh coming out of the cracks. There were anglers on the bank; they were asked to help retrieve the cement block. After splitting it with a crowbar, they were devastated when they saw a foot and the calf of a human crawling with maggots.
Enter Kristen French, born May 10th, 1976, a beautiful fifteen year old young girl. On April 16th, 1992, one month shy of her 16th birthday, she was walking home from school when Homolka lured her over to her car on the pretense of asking for directions. As Kristen was giving directions on the map, Bernardo, brandishing a knife, attacked her from behind and forced her into the car. This hostage-taking was observed by several witnesses. A BOLO was sent out to all units and a sketch was prepared of Bernardo by a witness. Kristen was kept for three days, being raped and tortured while the couple videotaped it all, and was forced to drink large quantities of alcohol before she was killed by Bernardo and Homolka. She was found in a ditch on April 30th, but as she was not dismembered, the investigators did not believe it was the same person who had killed Leslie Mahaffy.
The Green Ribbon Task Force was set up by the police with Superintendent Vincent Bevan taking the lead. The F.B.I. in the U.S. was consulted in an effort to profile the rapist. Citizens were concerned and kept their children at home. In the meantime, after the death of Kristen French, the newlywed-killing-duet moved to the Niagara Falls area.
As the drawing sketch of the rapist was plastered on TV, in post offices, in stores, and sidewalks, the police received calls saying that the man they were looking for resembled a man named Paul Bernardo. The investigators went to Bernardo's home where he claimed he was not the rapist/killer but admitted that, yes, the picture did resemble him, which he said was embarrassing.
While the detectives were there, they noted that the car in the driveway looked nothing like the Capri which witnesses had seen, but instead was a Nissan. Paul Bernardo, therefore, was not considered a suspect. Police were no further ahead and Bernardo continued his spree of rape and murder of teenage girls. By February, 1993, Bernardo made a mistake that would put him in the limelight as a suspect. After he blackened both eyes of Homolka and knocked out several of her teeth, she called 911. The police in Niagara Falls took her to the hospital and began investigating the matter. Karla was admitted to hospital and her uncle came to visit he
r. She whispered to him that Bernardo had killed Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French and went on to tell her uncle that he was indeed the Scarborough Rapist.
Author's Note: she never mentioned about the death of her sister Tammy. Homolka hired lawyer, George Walker, and told him that she wanted immunity if she gave up Bernardo. Walker said he would see what he could do.
The next day, on February 11th, 1993, Homolka's lawyer, George Walker, met with Director, Murray Segal, of the Crown Criminal Law Office. Walker told Segal that they had videotapes of the rapes, and Segal advised Walker that, considering Homolka's involvement in the crimes, full immunity was unlikely.
Paul was arrested and charged with the murders of Mahaffy and French and the rapes of several young girls. It was not until the 19th of February that police were granted a warrant to search Benardo's and Homolka's house. They did not, however, find any videotapes as Homolka had claimed. They did find a complete register in Bernardo's handwriting of all the murders and rapes, as well as books on serial killers, and perverted sex magazines. The much-wanted videotapes were in the possession of Bernardo's lawyer who surrendered them when he withdrew from the case. Before the tapes were handed to the police, a plea bargain was arranged based on Homolka's testimony. She would receive twelve years for each of the two victims (not her sister). The prosecutor said that it had to be done in order to nail Bernardo. Her earliest release date would be June, 2001.