'Mother to the Neighborhood' Postal Worker Was Killed on Mail Route in July. Police Just Arrested a 15-Year-Old

Mar. 15, 2025

Octavia Redmond.Photo:Octavia Redmond/Facebook

Octavia Redmond/Facebook

More than two months after a belovedU.S. Postal Service carrier was killedin a shooting while working her mail route in Chicago, authorities have arrested a teenage boy on a murder charge.

It’s unclear if he has entered a plea or retained an attorney to speak on his behalf.

The victim was in front of a home in the city’s West Pullman neighborhood when someone shot her multiple times and fled the scene in a vehicle around 11:40 a.m. on July 19, police said,KCBD,ABC 7andFox 32reported.

Police said in Tuesday’s statement that police and private camera footage helped investigators “identify and chase the movements” of the 15-year-old suspect before and after Redmond’s killing. They added that they also received an anonymous tip, which helped identify the teenager as a suspect.

Kim Sanders, who goes to work in the neighborhood, told KCBD back in July that Redmond “was like a mother to the neighborhood.”

“My heart is shattered because she was a nice lady,” Sanders said, per the outlet. “She’d just come up and down the block and deliver the mail, didn’t bother nobody.”

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Shortly after the shooting, the U.S. Postal Inspection Serviceoffered a reward of up to $250,000for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Redmond’s killing. PEOPLE couldn’t immediately confirm whether that reward has been paid out since the 15-year-old suspect’s arrest.

Redmond’s family also raised nearly $8,000 in donations on averified GoFundMe campaigncreated to help with funeral expenses following her death.

source: people.com