+---------------------------------------------------------------------+---+
| **Wednesday April 11 9:32 AM ET**\                                  |   |
| **Revenge Blamed in Postal Stabbings**                              |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| KEARNY, N.J. (AP) - A former postal worker may have been seeking    |   |
| retaliation against his co-workers when he stabbed four of them at  |   |
| a mail facility before police shot and killed him, authorities      |   |
| said.                                                               |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| The 26-year-old Newark man, whose name was not immediately          |   |
| released, had been a temporary worker at the bulk transfer          |   |
| facility. He quit March 5 following a personnel dispute, Hudson     |   |
| County authorities said.                                            |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| The man, an Ethiopian who immigrated to the United States in 1994,  |   |
| was armed with a .380-caliber handgun and two knives. He entered    |   |
| the lobby at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday during a shift change,         |   |
| according to Terrence Hull, the county\'s first assistant           |   |
| prosecutor.                                                         |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| A worker saw the man enter the facility with a gun and told him,    |   |
| \`\`Don\'t do this. Just go away,\'\' then ran to call 911,         |   |
| Esposito said.                                                      |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| The man attacked the four, who suffered minor stab wounds and cuts. |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| \`\`The whole thing lasted 15 minutes. There was a lot of yelling,  |   |
| people panicking, breaking down crying,\'\' said Licious Leverson,  |   |
| a postal employee who was inside the building, where about 250      |   |
| people work.                                                        |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| Three Kearny police officers found the man in a locker room.        |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| \`\`He approached the officers, and he was instructed to drop his   |   |
| weapons,\'\' Hull said. \`\`When he didn\'t, all three officers     |   |
| discharged their weapons.\'\'                                       |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| At least a dozen shots were fired. The man was pronounced dead at   |   |
| the scene; the injured workers were treated at hospitals and        |   |
| released.                                                           |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| Hull said the attacker may have attempted suicide. \`\`It appeared  |   |
| he may have tried to cut his own wrists. They were cut,\'\' Hull    |   |
| said.                                                               |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| Anthony Esposito, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection        |   |
| Service, said the man had a dispute with a female co-worker before  |   |
| he left the job. That woman was not in the building during the      |   |
| attack, Esposito said.                                              |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| Details of the dispute were not immediately clear.                  |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| The man had worked at several temporary assignments for the Postal  |   |
| Service.                                                            |   |
|                                                                     |   |
| \`\`He appeared to be a very troubled individual and had some sort  |   |
| of mental illness,\'\' Esposito said. \`\`He seldom talked to       |   |
| anyone. He was very much a loner.                                   |   |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+---+
| Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.\        |   |
| The information contained in the AP News report may not be          |   |
| published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior  |   |
| written authority of The Associated Press.                          |   |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+---+