Female letter carrier robbed at gunpoint at Addison apartment complex
ADDISON, Texas - The United States Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrests of two males who reportedly robbed a female letter carrier at gunpoint.
It happened at the Addison Apartments at the Park located off Spring Valley Road on May 6.
"The person that was robbing her placed the gun [to] her head. He was wearing a mask," said Kimetra Lewis, President of the National Association of Letter Carriers in Dallas.
Both robbers were wearing masks, according to Lewis.
The victim was putting mail in a cluster of mailboxes.
"It has caused some mental disturbance for her. Like it would for anyone who has a gun pointed at their head," said Lewis.
"We will immediately respond and provide that investigative attention," said Paul Ecker, a US Postal Inspector based in Forth Worth.
He said he cannot provide details about the investigation but did talk about what the agency is doing to try and combat these types of violent crimes.
Project Safe Delivery was launched in 2023, aimed at combating a recent rise in threats and attacks on letter carriers and postal employees, as well as protecting against package and mail thefts.
"Part of that is we're utilizing new technology, and I can't get into all the details of that because some of that needs to be kept secret. But it's all to help prevent these types of offenses from happening, keep our carriers safe," said Ecker.
Back in February, the letter carriers tried to bring attention to the problem at a rally outside the main post office on Interstate 30 in West Dallas.
Lewis says she'd like for the federal government to provide letter carriers with body cameras, like police officers wear.
She thinks that might deter would-be robbers.
"I see it now being worse, you know. Especially since the time when I first started, you didn't have this added fear," said Lewis.
Inspector Ecker tells FOX 4 the robbers are sometimes targeting the letter carriers for their personal property, like wallet and cell phone.
Other times, it is for mail property, like an arrow used to open up clusters of mailboxes.
Ecker added that arrests for these types of crimes are up by 73 percent nationwide year-over-year.
