'They are traumatized': Armed robber targeting Chicago postal carriers for master keys, police warn

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police are warning of an armed robber who is targeting postal carriers.

The person is not taking the mail or packages, but rather their keys!
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"It really will impede mail service, because if our carriers are not feeling safe, they're not going to deliver the mail," said Mack Julion, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Chicago.

It's become a frightening pattern: mail delivery drivers robbed at gunpoint.

As this happens more often, postal carriers are feeling helpless, union leaders said.

RELATED: Dozens arrested in massive mail theft scheme involving nearly $5M in losses

"They are traumatized. They're off work. I mean, they're out there doing their job. You are at work delivering the mail and someone comes up and sticks a gun to you for some arrow keys," Julion said.



Similar incidents have happened at least five times since August.

4300 block of W Flournoy St on August 17, 2022 at 10:23 AM

1800 block of N Long Ave on August 17, 2022 at 2:30 PM

1400 block of N Latrobe on September 8, 2022 at 3:30 PM

5300 block of W Flournoy on September 15, 2022 at 12:55 PM

4500 block of W. Van Buren on October 3, 2022 at 2:00 PM

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The same suspect has been approaching mail carriers, armed with a gun and demanding they hand over their set of master keys to these cluster mail boxes, according to Chicago police.

"They're looking for checks, they're looking for credit cards," Julion said.



However, Julion said it's been happening more often than that.

"It's more than just one person, it's becoming widespread," he said.

RELATED: US Postal Service mail carrier robbed at gunpoint in Hinsdale

With women serving as half the postal carrier workforce in Chicago right now, Julion said this has become an increasingly dangerous job.
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"So these young sisters are out there delivering the mail and you're sticking a gun to them asking for some arrow keys. How brave is that? But you know, it needs to stop. And if it don't stop, there's going to be instances where people are not receiving their mail," Julion said.



Julion is working with 18th Ward Alderman Derrick Curtis on introducing a city ordinance that would require cluster mailboxes over eight units to be placed inside the building to make carriers less susceptible to crime.

"Anything that I can do or we can do as a whole, I'm willing to help," Ald. Curtis said.

The suspect in these five incidents on the South and West sides of the city has yet to be caught. If you have any information, you're asked to call police.