In the spring of 1985, the life of 32-year-old Phillip T. Sciarrone, a white male, was abruptly and tragically cut short. On March 6th of that year, while at his job at a United States Postal Service facility in Atlanta, Georgia, Sciarrone was fatally shot by a co-worker. An employee of the postal service for eight years, he was working at a letter-sorting machine when the gunman, Stephen W. Brownlee, opened fire.
The attack was sudden and without any apparent warning.
Brownlee, who was 30 years old at the time, produced a. 22-caliber handgun and fired multiple shots. The gunfire resulted in the death of Sciarrone and another postal worker, while a third employee was wounded. The motive for the shooting remained unclear to investigators, who could not determine if the victims were specifically targeted or chosen at random.
Following the shooting, Stephen W. Brownlee was taken into custody and subsequently charged with two counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault. Colleagues described Brownlee as a peculiar individual who often talked to himself. After his arrest, he was sent to the psychiatric unit of Grady Memorial Hospital for evaluation. On June 21, 1985, a jury found Brownlee not guilty by reason of insanity. In the years that followed, his sister was appointed as his guardian, and he filed for bankruptcy in 1987. Phillip Sciarrone's widow, Lorraine Sciarrone, later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Brownlee.
