Slain mail carrier remembered by fellow postal workers
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Mail carriers gathered Monday morning to release balloons in memory of a United States Postal Service carrier shot and killed while doing her job.
The National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 39 met at Linwood Post Office, 4401 E. 10th St., to remember 45-year-old Angela Summers, the mail carrier shot and killed April 27.
Summers is the mother of a teenage girl and had been a letter carrier in Indianapolis for almost two years.
The shooting happened just before 4 p.m. in the 400 block of Denny Street. Summers was taken to an area hospital but died later that afternoon.
Tony Cushingberry-Mays, 21, was arrested in the shooting and faces federal charges that include murder in the second degree.
While with his attorney, he admitted to investigators that he shot Summers, according to court documents. Cushingberry-Mays said Summers had not been delivering mail due to an issue with the dog living at the residence. He said he was on the porch while Summers was delivering mail on the street and she walked past where he lived without delivering the mail and continued down the street. He said he approached her, asked for the mail and did not receive a response. At this point, he was on the porch of a nearby residence. He said Summers did not respond to his requests for the mail, then she turned around and pepper sprayed him.
That’s when he pulled out his gun and shot Summers, according to what he told investigators. He said he had never previously spoken to Summers and that “he did not mean to kill the letter carrier, but wanted to scare her,” according to court documents.
According to Paul Toms, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers‘ Indianapolis Local Branch 39, “There was an issue with the dogs at that residence, and you give three letters and, on the third one, we curtail the mail.”
People who lived on Summers’ route say she was always smiling and would often bring treats for the dogs in her neighborhoods.
Melissa Cummings, a friend who considered Summers family, says the woman approached everything in life with a can-do attitude and an open mind. So it was no surprise to her friends that she was excited to get a grueling mail carrier job in 2018.
“She was walking about 15 miles a day and she was exhausted,” Cummings said. “But she loved it! And she loved the fact that she was making a good living and able to provide for her daughter and she was very proud to be a mail carrier.”
The Indianapolis letter carriers’ union said it will put together a trust for Summers’ daughter. To help, contact Toms at 317-417-6252 or paulatoms@ameritech.net.
