Angela Summers Indianapolis postal worker shot dead while delivering mail after being confronted by man over government check not arriving.
An Indiana postal worker has been shot dead while delivered mail in Indianapolis, according to reports.
Angela Summers, 45, was gunned down Monday afternoon, just on 4p.m as she delivered mail near East Michigan Street and North Sherman Drive, the Indy Star reports.
Despite being rushed to hospital, the USPS mail carrier later died as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest. The woman’s death has been ruled a homicide according to the Marion County Coroner’s Office.
A report via 13News cited a witness saying a man upset about not getting a government check delivered to his home approached Summers who in turn reportedly told him she could not deliver his mail until he put up his dogs.
The comments lead to a confrontation, according to the neighbor, which led Summers to use pepper spray on the angry man who then shot her and took off running.
It wasn’t immediately clear what government check the man had been waiting as many Americans held hostage to the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic have yet to see promised $1200 stimulus checks arrive.
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‘She loved carrying the mail’
‘This is a tragedy,’ Paul Toms, president of the National Association of Letters Carriers’ Indianapolis branch, told the Indy Star of the slaying. ‘Senseless.’
Summers was a ‘well respected’ employee who enjoyed her job, Toms said.
‘She loved carrying the mail,’ he said.
Toms noted the postal worker becoming a steward for a local union after joining the US Postal Service in June 2018.
Since her passing; neighbors in the community of put up tribute ribbons to honor Summers- acts of endearment that doesn’t surprise long time close friend of Summers, Melissa Hardy.
‘She loved people. She loved the people on her route. She worried about the older people on her route during this time. She always carried treats and she would give the dogs treats on her route,’ Hardy told via fox59.com.
Hardy says she wants people to remember mail carriers are human while saying they should be treated with respect.
‘Nobody deserves this and she definitely didn’t deserve this,’ Hardy reiterated.
$50K reward offered for information leading to arrest as suspect sought:
Anyone found guilty of first-degree murder in the death an on-duty federal employee can be sentenced to death or life in prison. Just four postal workers have been killed during workplace homicides between 2013 and 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics cited by CNN.
A $50,000 reward is now being offered by the US Postal Inspection Service for information leading to an arrest in the slaying. Police acknowledged not having a description of the suspect.
Postal Inspector Team Leader Andrew Brandsasse of the US Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement arm of the USPS, said the agency is ‘actively investigating the incident.’
Anyone with information should call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or (TIPS).
