A reward of up to $50,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the individual who killed a U.S. Postal Service carrier who was fatally shot Friday while delivering mail in Milwaukee, authorities said.
The shooting happened just before 6 p.m. Friday on the city's north side. The Milwaukee Police Department said the 44-year-old mail carrier was pronounced dead at the scene. He had worked for the Postal Service for 18 years.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago confirmed Aundre Cross was the worker who was shot and killed Friday evening on the north side of Milwaukee, according to the Journal Sentinel.
Before transferring to his current route, Cross delivered mail to the New Pitts Mortuary in the Franklin Heights neighborhood. Mortuary owner Michelle Pitts said she is devastated over Cross’ death.
“He was a person that could light up the room,” Pitts said. “When he walked in to deliver our mail, he would literally light the funeral home up because he was always so jolly. He was a man that loved God with everything in him. He was going to make sure he left some type of biblical message with you.”
A former co-worker said the 44-year-old Cross had four children.
Police said the Postal Service and the FBI are assisting in the investigation. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson called the crime “alarming.”
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“The postal worker in this homicide was a public servant, which makes this crime even more disturbing," Johnson said in a statement. "Criminals responsible for death and harm in our city must be held accountable.”
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