The difference, in my mind, is that terrorism can affect anyone. Drug cartels only target poor drug users, not us well to do types (this is the mindset of people who feel this way, not my own personal one). Since I don't go to the ghetto, I won't deal with the cartels. But a terrorist....they might blow up my country club.
An American terrorist can blow up or shoot up your country club.... or your workplace. All of these attacks were carried out by terrorists but soft-pedaled as disgruntled employees "going postal."
Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986
On August 20, 1986, 14 employees were shot and killed and six wounded at the
Edmond, Oklahoma, post office by
Patrick Sherrill, a postman who then committed
suicide with a shot to the forehead.[SUP]
[3][/SUP]
Ridgewood, New Jersey in 1991
A former United States postal worker, Joseph M. Harris, killed his former supervisor, Carol Ott, and killed her boyfriend, Cornelius Kasten Jr., at their home. The following morning, on October 10, 1991, Harris shot and killed two mail handlers, Joseph M. VanderPaauw, 59, of Prospect Park, N.J., and Donald McNaught, 63, of Pompton Lakes, N.J. at the Ridgewood, New Jersey Post Office.[SUP]
[4][/SUP][SUP]
[5][/SUP]
Royal Oak, Michigan in 1991
On November 14, 1991 in
Royal Oak, Michigan, Thomas McIlvane killed five people, including himself, with a
Ruger 10/22 rifle in Royal Oak's post office, after being fired from the Postal Service for "insubordination." He had been previously suspended for getting into altercations with postal customers on his route.[SUP]
[6]
[/SUP]
Double event in 1993
Two shootings took place on the same day, May 6, 1993, a few hours apart. At a post office in Dearborn, Michigan, Lawrence Jasion wounded three and killed one, and subsequently killed himself.
In Dana Point, California, Mark Richard Hilbun killed his mother, then shot two postal workers dead.[7]As a result of these two shootings, in 1993 the Postal Service created 85 Workplace Environment Analysts for domicile at its 85 postal districts. These new positions were created to help with violence prevention and workplace improvement. In February 2009, the Postal Service unilaterally eliminated these positions as part of its downsizing efforts.[8]
Goleta, California, in 2006
Jennifer San Marco, a former postal employee, killed six postal employees before committing suicide with a
handgun, on the evening of January 30, 2006, at a large postal processing facility in Goleta, California.Police later also identified a seventh victim dead in a condominium complex in Goleta where San Marco once lived.[SUP]
[10][/SUP]
Baker City, Oregon, in 2006
Grant Gallaher, a letter carrier in Baker City, Oregon, pleaded guilty to the April 4, 2006 murder of his supervisor.[13] He reportedly brought his .357 Magnum revolver to the city post office with the intention of killing his postmaster. Arriving at the parking lot, he reportedly ran over his supervisor several times. Subsequently he went into the post office looking for his postmaster. Not finding the postmaster, he went back out to the parking lot and shot his supervisor several times at close range, ostensibly to make sure she was dead. He then reportedly fired several more bullets into the supervisor's car.
