Postal Worker Kills Self After Fatal Rampage

Turned down for promotion to a day job and written up for sleeping at work, a postal clerk pulled a pistol and settled old scores Friday.

Anthony Deculit, 37, killed a co-worker he had feuded with, wounded the supervisor who had reprimanded him and injured another worker before he put the 9-millimeter handgun in his mouth and ended his own life, even as friends begged him not to do it.

“I said, ‘Tony, you got a wife, a brand-new baby. Christmas is right around the corner, and in five days we’ll be off … . You don’t want to do this,’ ” said postal worker Michael Witkowski.

About 1,500 workers were on duty at the city’s main postal facility when the shots rang out about 12:45 a.m.

Deculit’s supervisor, Joan Chitwood, 55, was hospitalized in satisfactory condition.

Co-workers said Deculit and the man killed, Russell “Dan” Smith, 42, disliked each other so much they didn’t speak on the job.

Investigators did not know how Deculit got the gun into the building, said postal inspector Ida Gillis.