Chicago Postal Workers Plan to Halt Delivery Service After Mail Carrier Was Shot

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Sep 20, 2020 10:57 PM EDT

United States Postal workers in Chicago threatened to stop their delivery services after a mail carrier was shot in the city's South Side earlier this month.

Some of the postal workers deliver mail in areas in Chicago that are reportedly more violent neighborhoods.

The shot carrier was a 24-year-old woman, who was left critically and injured after being shot multiple times at 91st Street and Ellis Avenue.

The victim was said to be delivering mail on Sept. 10. The postal worker did not appear to be the target. She had been shot four times.

She was reportedly to had been caught in the crossfire during a drive-by, according to a report.

Reports further noted that she was the second mail carrier wounded by gunfire doing rounds.

Another mail carrier was also affected by a gunfire. The postal worker was shot in March while on the job and survived.

Another postal worker was shot in the South Side of Chicago after a day the second worker was shot.

On Friday, Chicago postal workers rallied to demand the city officials to address the treat to the workers' safety while doing their jobs.

Mack Julion, president of the Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers, urged workers to stop delivering mails where they feel unsafe.

"Any letter carrier who does not feel safe in any one of these communities then they are not to deliver mail and customers have to pick up their mail. We are not going to have another situation where the letter carrier is shot down," Julion said.

The 24-year-old postal worker that was shot while on the job is still in the hospital.

The Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Service Inspection is offering a reward worth $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect. Spencer Block, with the US Postal Inspection Service in Chicago, said that it is devastating to hear.

Block added that they have been working around the clock to solve the shooting investigation.

Meanwhile, other states have been seeing shootings that affect postal workers too. A postal worker in Virginia was also reportedly shot and left with serious injuries.

Reports said that the shooting incident occurred in Woodbridge at the 3500 block of Buffalo Court. The postal worker had "serious" but non-life-threatening injuries.

Prince William County Police said that the suspect was a Black male who wore a light-colored shirt, dark pants, and no shoes.

One postal worker said he is terrified after he thought he had been shot just blocks away from where one of his colleagues was shot. The incident happened last Friday in the Burnside neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.

A postal worker thought he had been shot when a car pulled up and started firing in his direction. However, he found that he was hit with paintballs. The paintball assault occurred after 24 hours of the 24-year-old female postal worker shooting.

Postal workers and neighbors held a vigil on Thursday night for the latest postal worker who was shot in Chicago.