INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - There are new details about the death of an Indianapolis postal worker and a possible motive for the crime.
According to union officials, mail to the home had been cut off because of a vicious dog. In that undelivered mail were two long-awaited federal stimulus checks.
Federal postal inspectors were back at the crime scene Wednesday night, interviewing possible witnesses and looking for more evidence. Earlier in the day, postal inspectors, FBI agents and Indianapolis homicide detectives arrested Tony Cushingberry-Mays. They suspect the 21-year-old is connected to the murder of letter carrier Angela Summers.
“We are very excited it was taken care of in an expeditious manner," said Paul A. Toms, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.
Summers was shot to death Monday while delivering the mail.
There was an ongoing dispute with a resident at a home on North Denny Street. According to Toms, the resident ignored two letters warning them to contain a vicious dog.
“So a third letter went out, your mail will be curtailed until you correct it,” he explained.
Summers, according to postal regulations, could not deliver mail to the house, but she did have to walk past it to deliver mail to other homes on her route.
“She was not going to tell him, 'I’m not going to deliver your mail,'” Toms said. “They came out and confronted her and that escalated to her death.”
Toms said that in the undelivered mail were two federal stimulus checks.
“And they wanted them and that’s what caused them to be agitated and aggressive,” he explained.
Summers is described as energetic and enthusiastic. She was a Sunday school teacher and so friendly some homeowners hung black ribbons from their mailboxes in her memory.
Assaulting a federal employee is a federal crime. The U.S. Attorney is reviewing the evidence, considering criminal charges and whether the case should be tried in federal court.