Postal worker shot dead after refusing to deliver stimulus check because of aggressive chihuahua

Dispute over dog had been going on for weeks

A man shot and killed a postal worker, after she refused to deliver his stimulus check because of his aggressive Chihuahua.

Tony Cushingberry from Indiana, confronted postal worker, Angela Summers, on Monday, when she didn’t deliver his stimulus check.

Mr Cushingberry had been waiting for his check, which provides $1,200 to every American who earns under $75,000 per year, whose work has been affected due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Indy Star reported that Ms Summers was refusing to deliver mail to the 21-year-old because she was struggling with his Chihuahua.

After Ms Summers failed to deliver the cheque on Monday, he confronted her on a neighbour’s porch and repeatedly asked for his mail, reported the outlet.​

Ms Summers, the mother of a 14-year-old girl, then sprayed him with mace, before Mr Cushingberry shot her, he admitted in court documents on Tuesday.

In the documents, he revealed that he suffers from asthma and felt discomfort with the mace, but “did not mean to kill the letter carrier, but wanted to scare her,” he said.

National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Brance 39 president, Paul Toms, told Fox59 that the dispute over mail was not new.

“The mail had been curtailed from what I was told very recently. On April 12 or 13, the curtailment of mail letter was sent to them,” he said.

“There was a history on this for quite a while, as I understand it. Dog letters had been sent. That’s a form to the patron when a dog is a nuisance or a danger or vicious.

“Three dog letters, one to warn them, a second one a second warning, and then a curtailment of mail. That’s what they had proceeded to there,” he added.

Mr Cushingberry has been charged with second-degree murder, assaulting a federal employee and discharging a firearm during a crime, according to court documents.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, there are now upwards of one million people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached at least 61,288.