A Postal Service mail carrier was shot Tuesday while delivering mail in the Irving Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side, according to authorities.
Two armed attackers approached the 52-year-old male carrier on the 3200 block of North Kildare Avenue around 3:30 p.m., police said. They tried to take the man’s belongings, and one attacker fired a gun, striking the victim in the leg, police said.
A Postal Service spokesperson confirmed the victim was a USPS mail carrier Tuesday afternoon. The agency is already investigating the shooting, but the Postal Service did not have an update on the mail carrier’s condition, the spokesperson said.
According to police, the victim was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition. Officers have not arrested any suspects, and detectives are investigating, police said.
A string of robberies targeting mail carriers last winter left many carriers traumatized and fearful for their lives, the head of the Chicago branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers told the Tribune in February.
[ Postal carriers ‘traumatized’ after recent armed robberies and other crimes, says head of union ]
”It’s a traumatizing experience to have a gun pulled at you in the performance of your duties while servicing the public,” said Elise Foster, president of the union’s Branch 11. “They’re scared and some don’t even want to return back to work.”
