Community Shocked Over Postal Shooting

HENNING, Tenn. - Shock and disbelief were shared by many in Henning as word of the shootings circulated through the small community but, some residents allege even though it's not a large town they are part of a greater war when it comes to being victimized by crime.

In communities the size of Henning the loss of anybody's life would tend to reach more people on a personal level and when the end comes as violently as it apparently did for two postal services employees, the depth of despair runs deep for nearly everyone.

In a town it's most noted resident, author Alex Haley, eternally romanticized to the world as the muse for his best selling book, "Roots" the intrusion of dark forces isn't new and it's not just confined to coming from outside Henning's city limits.

“All we know is that somebody come in there and killed both of them. That's all we know. My sister has gone to get her kids. The kids they don't even know it,” said Bobbie Fayne, the aunt of Paula Robinson, slain Henning postal worker.

Curious onlookers crowded the main street of the Lauderdale County community as word of the apparent murders of two post office employees wound its way through the nooks and crannies of Henning's narrow streets on Monday. Law enforcement officers from all over Lauderdale County were joined by Western District Attorney General, Ed Stanton the third who came from Memphis to see the crime scene for himself.

When first informed of the shootings, 64-year old John Wilson, an unpublished author of Henning lore, cited what he alleges is a specific crime problem which has escalated in the past two decades.

“What made the crime rate so high was the drug problem that we had and we still have. There's some drug dealers been circulating around here for 25 years,” said Wilson.

FOX13 News cameras were at sight of the last known multiple shooting in Henning. In 2005, four people where shot and wounded in a trailer after two suspects opened fired on them. Wilson believes the town's crime rate is directly related to the high unemployment rate which dates back years as the once productive cotton business found better opportunities out elsewhere.

“Most people that wanted to buy here they bought in Ripley and in Halls. So, that left us kind of hanging. We have only one factory in this town,” said Wilson.

But, whether Monday's tragedy was motivated by drug trafficking or desperation on the part of the suspects, Wilson says residents of the town he's lived his whole life in need to look inward to confront their own dark forces.
“Just like the Bible said. The world will grow weaker and wiser. Wiser in sin and weaker in Christianity,” said Wilson.

By the time FOX13 arrived on the scene nearly 300 people had come to the crime scene.