Teen charged with murder in shooting death of Chicago postal worker Octavia Redmond
CHICAGO (CBS) -- More than two months after the shooting death of a postal worker on the city's South Side, police said they have found her killer in another state.
The suspected killer is a 15-year-old boy. Police said he was arrested Monday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after he was identified as the person who shot and killed 48-year-old Octavia Redmond in the West Pullman neighborhood on July 19.
Friends and family of Octavia Redmond were stunned by the news of an arrest. They said a day has not gone by that they have not thought about Redmond—who was a very familiar and very friendly face at the Far South Side post office where she worked.
Everyone still wants to know why Redmond was shot and killed—and her colleagues say they're still fighting for safety improvements for letter carriers.
"Now we've got to relive it again," said mail carrier and president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 11 Elise Foster.
Foster said she got the call about an arrest early Tuesday morning.
"I talked to her husband, Demetrius Redmond," she said. "That was my first call, letting him know that my heart goes out to him, and, you know, this is a step in the right direction."
Redmond was shot multiple times while delivering mail near 121st and Harvard around 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 19. She was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead.
The shooter's getaway vehicle later was found abandoned and torched in the middle of a field in the 8900 block of South Holland Road.
In August, police released surveillance video footage of the shooting, showing the shooter getting into a stolen Dodge Durango in the 7000 block of South Campbell Avenue before the shooting. A second video clip showed a man getting out of the Durango near 121st and Harvard, running across the street and out of view of the camera, then getting back into the vehicle before it drives away.
Ruth M. Mendonça, Inspector in Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, said the teen's arrest is "the first step in securing justice for Mrs. Redmond."
"There is no place for this type of senseless violence. When members of our postal family are targeted, postal inspectors will not rest until justice is delivered on behalf of the victims, their families, and our postal community," Mendonça said in a statement.
Foster concurred.
"It will never bring her back," Foster said. "You know, it's a step in the right direction that someone will pay for the vicious crime that they did."
People who live in West Pullman have said Redmond was a beloved fixture in the neighborhood.
"My heart is shattered, because it was a nice lady," Kim Sanders said on the day of the shooting. "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.
Upon hearing of the arrest of the teenage suspect, Redmond's colleagues and Roseland customers alike were relieved, and saddened.
"This has been my post office for 48 years," said Dorothy Rice, a customer at the Roseland Post Office at 11033 S. State St., where Redmond worked. "When children commit adult crimes, then that's a whole different story that involves all of us, because we're parents."
The boy was promptly extradited back to Chicago to face one count of first-degree murder. In Cook County Juvenile Court on Tuesday, he was held in custody, and a follow-up hearing was set for Friday, Nov. 1.
"He took a life, and his life is potentially going to be gone, you know, for the murder—and why? That's a question I'm asking." said Rice. "We're all asking why. Why her? What did she do?"
Redmond's death and other safety concerns have fueled legislation aimed at improving security—including the Postal Police Reform Act, which would ensure U.S. Postal Service police officers could accompany mail carriers on their routes.
"They now basically sit in a parking lot and protect facilities instead of being on the street," said Luis Rivas, Jr., president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service had been offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. It was not clear if the arrest in Redmond's murder was the result of a tip.