USPS - 21-year-old man arrested in fatal shooting of Indianapolis mail carrier Angela Summers

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Indianapolis and federal police have made an arrest in connection to the fatal shooting of a mail carrier.

Tony Cushingberry, 21, was arrested Wednesday in the shooting that killed Angela Summers, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said in a news release.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is leading and IMPD is assisting with the homicide investigation. Neither agency released information on possible motives for the shooting.

Summers, 45, was shot Monday afternoon as she delivered mail in a neighbourhood near East Michigan Street and North Sherman Drive, police said.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified over fears for his safety, said he knew Summers well. They talked frequently as she walked along her route. They were friends on Facebook, he said.

"She was a friend of mine, not just my letter carrier," the man said

The man was in his yard on Monday afternoon when he heard shouting and cursing coming from the home.

"I heard words, angry words," he said. "Then I heard the pop of gunfire."

The neighbor said he heard a single shot.
Tony Cushingberry
IMPD

Alondra Salazar, 19, was falling asleep in her home on North Denny Street when she heard a loud bang.

"At first I thought something had fallen in the house," Salazar said. "I heard someone knocking."

Salazar looked through the peephole and didn't see anything. When she opened the door, she found the wounded Summers on the porch.

There was blood and undelivered mail beside her, along with a small bottle of hand sanitizer and a can of pepper spray, Salazar said. There was a bullet hole in the door.

Salazar called 911 and held Summers' hand, she said, trying to calm her as they waited for paramedics.

“She couldn’t speak, she was hyperventilating,” Salazar said. “I think she said something about her kid and that’s when I started crying.”
Police and U.S. Postal Inspectors investigate the area around North Denny Street following the Monday, April 27, 2020 fatal shooting of mail carrier Angela Summers,. Indianapolis, Tuesday, April 28, 2020.
Grace Hollars/IndyStar

Summers died later at an area hospital.

Read more: Angela Summers 'loved carrying the mail'

While authorities have not disclosed a motive for the shooting, Paul Toms, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Indianapolis branch, told IndyStar in a phone interview that the shooting took place at a house where he believed Summers had issues with an aggressive dog.

Toms said a house on Denny had received three official notices about dogs. The third dog warning, Toms said, typically means mail delivery is suspended. "There had been a long-standing issue with dogs at that residence," Toms said.

Facebook posts from Angela Summers two days before her death also detail her dealings with a family on her route that refused to keep an aggressive dog inside.

“This dog is a nasty devil that I’ve actually had to spray — twice!” Summers wrote.

When the post office stopped delivering their mail due to Summers' complaints, she wrote that the family threatened her and demanded their mail.

Summers wrote that she felt "seriously unsafe" after the threats.

Her Facebook posts, however, do not indicate where the house was located. Again, authorities have not disclosed any information about motive.

Federal charges are pending in U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler's office. The case remained under investigation.

[NWpostie]

RIP thoughts to her family.

I've spoken to letter carriers when visiting the US, they are not routinely armed and all they have is a pepper spray, some of the neighborhoods they work in is like a shooting gallery, some of them do fear not going home.