Friends: Slain Postal worker a good person

Cathy Scott

Friday, Dec. 20, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Friends of James "Jay" Brown, who was gunned down outside the Sunset Road post office, allegedly by an employee he had fired, expressed disbelief at the news of his death.

"It's one of those things you just can't believe," said School Board member Lois Tarkanian, a close friend.

Brown, 59, was shot to death just after 7 a.m. Thursday as he walked from his car toward the employee entrance of the post office at 1001 Sunset Road. Thirty minutes later, 41-year-old Charles Edward Jennings surrendered to police.

Mark Ratner, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and commissioner of the Southern Nevada Officials Association, worked closely with Brown, who officiated high school football and basketball games.

"This is a real devastating one for me," Ratner said. "Chuck Minker (the late NSAC executive director) and I used to have Thanksgiving dinner with James. You never saw him not smiling. You thought, 'Here's a guy who's always happy.'

"He was a tremendous official, but more important, he was a tremendous man."

Ratner said Brown, a former vice president of the officials association, retired from officiating about four years ago.

Brown was a big booster of Bishop Gorman High School sports, Ratner said. Brown's son, Mike Brown, was a star basketball player at Gorman.

Tarkanian, who met Brown 20 years ago because their sons were best friends, said, "He was one of those people who quietly went about being a very good human being to others, and it leaves a void when something like this happens.

"He was a good man. It's just so very, very sad," she said, noting that her son Danny "is devastated."

Dee Dee Terrano, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said Brown "was much loved and well liked" at work. "We're at a complete loss," she said.

Brown is survived by his wife, Jessie Brown, his son, Mike Brown, who lives in Las Vegas, two daughters, Lynette Brown, also of Las Vegas, and Rene Brown of New York City.

"He was such a wonderful person," said a family friend who asked that his name not be used. "It's just so bizarre."

Brown had parked his car in the employee lot east of the post office just after 7 a.m. when he was confronted by Jennings, homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said.

The two exchanged words briefly as Brown got out of his car and began walking toward the building, Petersen said.

Witnesses told police they heard four or five shots. Brown was shot in the head and upper body with a medium-caliber revolver and collapsed about 15 feet from the employee entrance.

About 30 minutes after the shooting, Jennings, a former mail handler and a union steward, drove up to an officer who was on an unrelated traffic stop at Charleston Boulevard and Pecos Road, Petersen said. He told the officer, "I just murdered someone," Petersen said.

Rudkin noted that while a security guard is in the employee lot at night, "it's not a closed parking lot. Employees can come and go. During the day it is open. There was no one who admitted Mr. Jennings to the parking lot. He let himself in."

Police recovered a revolver from Jennings in his car. Jennings was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and charged with murder with a deadly weapon. He was being held without bail.

Jennings was fired May 17 by Brown, who was a senior labor relations specialist at the Postal Service branch and also the No. 2 man in the Postal Service in Southern Nevada, said Teresa Rudkin, a spokeswoman for postal corporate relations.

Jennings, who is married, had just received word by certified mail that an arbitration hearing panel had upheld his firing.

"He did not take the news well," said Postal Inspector Don Obritsch. "It was somewhat of an issue over the past two years or so. It had gone to an arbitration firing, and they agreed with the Postal Service that the information should stand."

Jennings had transferred to Las Vegas from Los Angeles in April 1993 as a mail handler. He began his postal career in Los Angeles in 1978, Rudkin said.

Brown spent his entire career in Los Vegas, hiring on in 1979 as a letter carrier at the main post office, Rudkin said. He was promoted to a labor relations representative in 1986. In January 1993, he became the senior labor relations specialist. He had testified against Jennings during the arbitration hearing.

"There was no warning whatsoever to the Postal Service that this was going to happen. None whatsoever," Obritsch said. "We checked his files and there was no indication that this employee was a problem."

"The Postal Service from time to time does have to terminate employees. We've taken steps to prevent these types of crimes and keep employees safe. Any early detection is brought to the attention of a crisis group, counselors and Postal Service law enforcement officers."

The murder case could be prosecuted federally, Obritsch said.

"We could take the case federal if we wanted," he said, "It's a federal crime committed on federal property. But I don't know that the decision has been made."

However, he added, "I think it's probably going to go local."

Jennings was to make his first appearance in District Court this morning.

Brown

Charles Jennings