Chicago: Police Warn That An Armed Robber Is Targeting Postal Carriers For Master Keys
WLS-TV in Chicago reports The Chicago Police Department has issued a warning about an armed robber targeting postal carriers.
The individual is not collecting mail or packages, but rather their keys!
“It really will impede mail service because if our carriers don’t feel safe, they won’t deliver the mail,” Mack Julian, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Chicago, said.
It’s become a terrifying pattern: mail delivery drivers are being robbed at gunpoint.
The same suspect has approached mail carriers, armed with a gun and demanding their master keys at least five times, police said. https://t.co/7MXaPfP7W9
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) October 10, 2022
According to union leaders, postal carriers are feeling helpless as this happens more frequently.
“They have been traumatized. They’re not at work. Postal carriers are out there doing their jobs, after all. You’re at work delivering mail when someone approaches you with a gun and demands some arrow keys, “Julian stated.
Since August, at least five similar incidents have occurred.
August 17, 2022, at 10:23 a.m., in the 4300 block of W Flournoy St.
August 17, 2022, at 2:30 p.m., in the 1800 block of N Long Ave.
September 8, 2022, at 3:30 p.m., in the 1400 block of N Latrobe.
September 15, 2022, at 12:55 p.m., in the 5300 block of W Flournoy.
October 3, 2022, at 2:00 p.m., in the 4500 block of W. Van Buren.
According to Chicago police, the same suspect has been approaching mail carriers armed with a gun and demanding that they hand over their set of master keys to these cluster mailboxes.
“They’re looking for checks and credit cards,” Julian explained.
Julian, on the other hand, claims it happens more frequently.
“It’s more than just one person; it’s spreading,” he said.
With women accounting for half of the postal carrier workforce in Chicago right now, Julian believes the job is becoming increasingly dangerous.
“So these young sisters are delivering the mail, and you’re holding a gun to their heads and demanding some arrow keys. How daring is that? But, you know, it has to come to an end. And if it does not stop, there will be instances where people do not receive their mail, “Julian stated.
Julian is collaborating with 18th Ward Alderman Derrick Curtis to introduce a city ordinance requiring cluster mailboxes with more than eight units to be placed inside the building to make carriers less vulnerable to crime.
“Anything I can do or anything we can do as a community, I’m willing to help,” Ald. Curtis said.
The suspect in these five incidents on the city’s south and west sides is still at large. If you have any information, don’t hesitate to contact the police.
