Beloved postal worker shot and killed on Chicago's South Side
CHICAGO (CBS) — A postal worker was shot and killed in the West Pullman neighborhood on Friday.
Police said the shooting happened around 11:40 a.m. in the 12100 block of South Harvard Avenue.
The postal worker was in front of a home when an unknown man walked up and shot her, then fled in a vehicle.
The woman was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center with multiple gunshot wounds, and was pronounced dead. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified her as Octavia Redmond, of Chicago.
People who live in West Pullman said Redmond, 48, was beloved in the neighborhood.
"My heart is shattered, because it was a nice lady," Kim Sanders said. "She never bothered anybody."
Sanders said would see Redmond's smiling face on her block every day.
"She would just come up and down the block, and just deliver the mail. Didn't bother nobody. So it's like it's devastating to the area," Sanders said.
No one was in custody Friday afternoon. Area 2 detectives were investigating.
Elise Foster, president of the local letter carriers union, said Redmond's death could have been prevented.
"We've been asking for help," Foster said. "We've been asking safety measures, but it should not take it to come to this point for us to get what we need while we're out here delivering our mail."
Investigators were going door to door Friday afternoon, talking to those who live on the block and checking for any homes that have surveillance cameras that might have captured the crime on video.
"Investigating the loss of life is the most important thing we can do. So when we lose one of our own, a postal employee, we take it as seriously as anything we could do in this job. This is why we're here. We do have other jobs and other things to investigate as well, obviously, but all those things take a back seat when something like this happens today," U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesman Spencer Block said.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Tips can be provided to the agency's 24/7 hotline at 877-876-2455. All calls will be kept confidential.