SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — An investigation is underway after a USPS carrier was reportedly robbed at gunpoint in South Euclid.
Police say the incident happened on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at around 4:46 p.m. in the area of 605 Quilliams Road.
The suspects, who have been identified by police as two men, were wearing a pumpkin mask and a skeleton mask at the time of the robbery.
The 35-year-old postal worker said he was delivering mail when two guys dressed in black with Halloween masks on demanded his master key—or the key that opens locked mailboxes.
“He comes by here like every day and he’s a cool dude,” said Bryan Matthews, who lives nearby.
The mail carrier told police one of the robbers was wearing a pumpkin mask and holding a handgun. He put the key on the ground and they grabbed it and took off.
“It is brazen,” said Officer Joe Di Lillo. “It’s not something we get a lot here in South Euclid. In 17 years with department, I haven’t seen an individual—a postman—robbed of his key.”
But thefts involving postal workers and mail are not unheard of in the greater Cleveland area. Last year, Parma police reported someone using a master key to steal bills and checks from blue collection boxes. Cleveland and Euclid also reported mail thefts around that same time.
“I don’t send anything at all. Like, I don’t leave anything on my porch cause it’s going to get took regardless,” Matthews said.
Matthews lives just a few houses away from where the alleged robbery happened and just three blocks away from an overnight shooting on his street, which stretches into Cleveland Heights.
“That’s just like the norm nowadays, you know what I mean?” he said. “It’s just like the generation we’re in now. And it’s just going crazy. Going wild, you know?”
In that incident, Cleveland Heights police say a man in his 50s flagged them down just after 1:30 a.m. to let them know two men dressed in black had shot him in the leg.
“It’s concerning to me not only as police chief but as a resident here,” said Cleveland Heights Police Chief Chris Britton.
Chief Britton says as officers were investigating, they heard more shots less than an hour later and only several blocks away at Elmwood and Noble roads.
“That’s highly unusual and rather strange having those types of incidents in such a close time frame,” he said.
Police arrived at the second scene to find a teen with a gunshot wound and the same description of suspects.
“It’s definitely alarming to me when you hear there are individuals out there that, for reasons unknown in particular, they’re targeting people. So yeah, it’s definitely a concern to us. But this is on the top of our list,” Britton said.
Chief Britton said they have increased police presence in the area. There is no evidence at this point that either of the shootings are connected to the armed robbery of the mail carrier that happened up the street in South Euclid.
At this time, the South Euclid Detective Bureau and Postal Inspector are investigating that crime.
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