Postal Worker Killed in ‘Targeted Attack’

Warren, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) – An Ohio postal worker was fatally shot in what police are calling a “targeted attack.”

Warren, Ohio police said Jonte Davis, 33, was in his mail van on Saturday afternoon when he was shot by a gunman who fired from another car. Davis was taken to the Trumbull Regional Medical Center, where he later died of his injuries.

Police said they believe that Davis and the suspect knew each other. Police were able to track the suspect’s car in a driveway. Later they were able to obtain a search warrant and to search the suspect’s home and car. Several people were interviewed, police said, but no arrests were made.

One witness told WKYC that they heard the gunshots.

“We heard 6 shots then we heard a car speed up and head west on Washington,” the man said. “She (his wife) came out and saw the mail truck coming down the street and she said, ‘Oh my God, he’s driving weird.’ We were the first people to arrive there and he was in bad shape.”

The U.S. Postal Service and the FBI are investigating the incident.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Davis’s family, friends, and fellow postal employees, who knew and worked with him," Michael Martel, a spokesperson for the Postal Inspection Service, said in a statement. "Mr. Davis worked for USPS less than a year and was described as a good employee by his supervisors."

Officials with the Postal Inspection Service offered a reward of $250,000 for information about the suspect.

The attack was the latest in an increasing number of attacks on mail carriers, officials said.

In December, officials with the National Association of Letter Carriers said there have been more than 2,000 attempted or successful robberies and/or assaults on postal workers nationwide since 2020. In the last few months of 2023, there was an uptick the union said.

During the last two weeks of 2023, two postal workers in Boston were robbed of their mail key. A third attempted robbery in the end of December saw a letter carriers attacked by three males.

“We’re asking for and we’re looking for is more federal prosecutors to take on these cases, obviously there’s harder penalties that would be at the federal level and also a deterrent,” Ken Janulewicz with the National Association of Letter Carriers said.

The postal worker in Dorchester was not injured.

In February, the 21-year-old who attacked a postal in Mississippi man was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Officials said John Scott was found guilty of attacking a postal worker in 2023. The postal worker had been sitting in her mail truck on her lunch break when Scott attacked.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Mississippi, the letter carrier was sitting on the sidestep of her marked vehicle eating lunch when Scott approached her. Officials said he exposed himself to the postal worker and touched himself then grabbed her “by the back of her head and pulled her toward him” to make her perform oral sex on him.

When the letter carrier resisted, Scott took her phone and fled the scene. Three days later, officers with the Clarksdale Police Department found Scott and arrested him. He was arrested and charged with assaulting an officer or employee of the United States while they were performing their official duties.

Scott pleaded guilty in October. In February, he was sentenced to the maximum sentence of eight years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. A judge recommended Scott be evaluated for “sexual dangerousness,” according to the release.

“The safety and security of Postal Service employees is core to the mission of the Postal Inspection Service,” Inspector-in-Charge Scott Fix said in the release. “While assaults against our employees are rare, when they do occur, we will aggressively investigate to find those responsible and bring them to justice.”

And in January, a Georgia postal worker was found on the floor of a garage after being attacked by two dogs.

Officials said the 36-year-old postal carrier was found bloody and motionless on a garage floor in Statesboro. Two dogs were also found standing over the body. According to the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office the postal carrier was delivering to the home and dropped a package by the door. The dogs began to attack her when she was leaving.

A woman who was on the phone with the postal carrier heard the attack. She went to the house were the attack was occurring, and honked her car horn to distract the dogs. But the dogs continued to attack her, the witness said.

When police arrived, the postal carrier was in the garage “completely nude, bloody and not moving,” the report said. When the dogs wouldn’t let officers in the garage, a deputy shot one of them with a rubber-ball round, the report said. The dog ran off and the other dog was contained to allow medical personnel attended to the woman.

The postal worker was airlifted to the hospital, where she was treated for her injuries.

The postal service said they were working with local authorities to investigate the incident.

“The Postal Service is deeply saddened about the recent incident involving a rural carrier from the Statesboro Post Office,” USPS said in a statement shared with McClatchy News. “Our condolences go out to the employee, their family, friends and coworkers.”

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