Detroit Ceremony marks 20 years since post office shooting Fired letter carrier killed four people

By Corey Williams Associated Press DETROIT (AP) -- Charlie Withers shrugged off the popping sounds coming from somewhere inside the Royal Oak Post Office because some work was being done in the building. But the screams he just couldn't ignore. Withers and another postal employee locked an office door just before Thomas McIlvane tried the knob. It likely saved their lives. Mcllvane, a fired letter carrier, killed four people and wounded four others with a .22-caliber rifle before killing himself. Survivors and other postal employees remembered the 20th anniversary of the tragedy Monday outside the post office, just north of Detroit. "We put wreaths out in front of the post office every Nov. 14," said Withers, a union steward and letter carrier since 1983. Withers said he was in a Labor Relations office on that date in 1991 when McIlvane entered the building. "We heard some gunshots, but we didn't identify them as gunshots," he said. "Then we heard people screaming, and we locked the door. He tried to open the door. We could hear the clip drop and him reload another. "He went upstairs to Workman's Compensation and shot three people. I know one girl he basically saw, and she said, 'Don't shoot me,' and he said, 'You're not the one I want.'" McIlvane had a contentious relationship with some managers and had filed grievances, said Withers, who added that some believed he was targeted and mistreated by supervisors. "I'm not condoning what he did, but if it wasn't Tom, eventually it would have been somebody else," Withers said. The Royal Oak massacre came in an era of other attacks at post offices across the country. "It was largely copycatting," said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston. "There were, and probably still are, unhappy postal workers. In the minds of many of them, people like Patrick Sherrill are seen as heroes. They went ahead and did what others have only fantasized about. Most wouldn't even consider bringing a gun to work." Sherrill shot and killed 14 of his co-workers at an Edmond, Okla., post office in 1986. Sherrill's rampage inspired the "going postal" expression. "I don't know where his head was at," Withers said of McIlvane. Some postal workers believe his actions could have been avoided and want to describe the shooting as a "preventable tragedy" on a plaque that would be placed beneath a tree outside the building. But postal officials rejected the plaque's wording. "Different families have different interpretations of the incident, and we want each to honor the memories in their own way," spokesman Ed Moore said. The problem with such a plaque is it doesn't say how the shooting could have been prevented, Fox said. "There are lots of things that might have prevented this tragedy from occurring," he said. "If McIlvane had been treated differently and had more support, even from co-workers or his family. And had a more difficult time getting his weapon. "The purpose is not to point fingers, but to remember the victims." Published: Tue, Nov 15, 2011