Posted on 12/21/2001 8:14:00 PM PST by JohnD9207
Random violence claims carrier Robert Jenkins, husband and father, did not walk his Tulsa mail route Wednesday thinking that it would be his day to die. He left for his job, as most of us do, expecting to work his shift and then return home to those he held dear. Things did not work out that way for Jenkins, 30, the victim of an apparent random act of violence. He will never go home and his 18 month old daughter will not grow up with her father. The nine-year postal veteran took a bullet in the back. Witnesses claim the bullet came from the gun of Jason Weed, 27. Weed was arrested a few minutes later near the Brookside district, carrying a loaded gun and acting erratically. Weed was booked into the Tulsa Jail on a first-degree murder complaint. By all accounts Jenkins was a dedicated worker in a job that can be thankless and physically demanding. "Everyone liked him," said John Harrison, president of the Tulsa chapter of the National Letter Carriers Association. "He was a good employee." Around Oklahoma, flags at post offices were at half staff and a fund for the family was set up at the Tulsa Postal Federal Credit Union. Letter carriers fight bad weather, snarling dogs, heavy traffic and other hazzards on a day-in, day-out basis. And while a postal handler died this fall from inhalation anthrax, no route carrier had been a homicide victim in a couple of years. The last homicides included a letter carrier who was shot at a Los Angeles Jewish community center. Another was murdered in a carjacking in rural Mississippi. In fiscal 2000, postal inspectors responded to 1,037 postal related assults and credible threats. Their investigations led to 441 arrests. "The thought of delivering mail and encountering what happened (to Jenkins) Couldn't possibly be anticipated by any letter carrier," one postal supervisor said. Indeed it could not. In this year, when so much violence has rained down on America, the death of Robert Jenkins marks yet another instance of man's inhumanity to man.
I am confident there will be an outpouring of financial and emotional support for your daughter, especially at Christmas.
I know it must really hurt you deep inside to lose him.
I hope American public can appreciate what a thankless amd stress filled job a letter carrier does - not everyone can do it. I tried it, and quit after the first day! TOO MUCH STRESS FOR THIS KID.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for your family's happiness.
Norb in Jacksonville
John: I am so sorry for you and your family. I have a hard time coping with tragedy, even when it is someone else's. My answer is to pray for you all to be comforted in your sorrow.
May God Bless you and your entire family.
I note that Oklahoma is real hard on murderers. That Weed person will probably get the death penalty, richly deserved.
Slain letter carrier honored at service by postal workers
NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer, 12/18/2001
Police believe that the fatal shooting may have been random. A long line of mail trucks in the funeral procession served as a fitting tribute Monday to a letter carrier who was killed while delivering mail on his route. Slain letter carrier Robert W. Jenkins, 30, was remembered at a...
Family, friends and co-workers honor slain letter carrier
NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer, 12/18/2001
A long line of mail trucks in the funeral procession served as a fitting tribute Monday to a letter carrier who was killed while delivering mail on his route. Slain letter carrier Robert W. Jenkins, 30, was remembered at a 10 a.m. service at Parkview Baptist Church. Jason M. Weed, 27, was...
Jenkins World's own Service, 12/16/2001
JENKINS -- Robert Wayne, 30, died tragically on Wednesday, December 12, 2001. Robert was born September 11, 1971 in Tulsa. He had been a Letter Carrier for the U.S. Postal Service for 9 years. He graduated from Glenpool High School in 1989 and received an Associate's degree in Acco...
I am going out right now to put some cookies and a card in my mail box for my postman and tell him 'Thanks' just because you made me think about it.
I think even the most virulent "drug warrior" on this forum will excuse me when I say that at this moment I have a burning desire to "smoke Weed."
Alas, vengeance is the Lord's. I certainly hope the perp's insanity defense fails.
You may have to click on "search archives". Type in 'Robert Jenkins'...
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