Octavia Redmond Obituary: More than two months after a postal worker was shot to death on the city’s South Side, authorities said they had tracked down her killer in another state. The suspected murderer is a 15-year-old boy. Police say he was arrested Monday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after being identified as the person who shot and killed 48-year-old Octavia Redmond on July 19 in the West Pullman neighborhood.
The news of Octavia Redmond’s imprisonment shook her friends and family. They said they haven’t stopped thinking about Redmond, who was a familiar and friendly figure at the Far South Side post office where she worked. Everyone still wants to know why Redmond was shot and murdered, and her colleagues say they are still lobbying for letter carrier safety reforms.
“Now we’ve got to relive it again,” said Elise Foster, head of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 11.
Foster said she received a call concerning an arrest early Tuesday morning. “I talked to her husband, Demetrius Redmond,” she told me. “That was my first call, letting him know that my heart goes out to him, and, you know, this is a step in the right direction.” Redmond was shot multiple times while delivering mail near 121st and Harvard around 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 19. She was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Centre in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead.
The shooter’s getaway vehicle was later discovered abandoned and burned during a field in the 8900 block of South Holland Road. In August, authorities released surveillance camera footage of the shooting, which showed the shooter entering a stolen Dodge Durango in the 7000 block of South Campbell Avenue before to the shooting. A second video footage showed a man exiting the Durango between 121st and Harvard, fleeing across the street and out of view of the camera, and then returning to the vehicle before driving away.
Ruth M. Mendonça, Inspector in Charge of the United States Postal Inspection Service’s Chicago Division, stated that the teen’s arrest is “the first step in securing justice for Mrs. Redmond.””There is no place for such mindless violence. When members of our postal family are targeted, postal inspectors will not stop until justice is served for the victims, their families, and our postal community,” Mendonça said in a statement.
Foster concurred. “It will never bring her back,” Foster explained. “You know, it’s a step in the right direction that someone will pay for the vicious crime that they did.” Residents of West Pullman have described Redmond as a beloved figure in the neighbourhood. “My heart is shattered, because it was a nice lady,” Kim Sanders said on the day of the incident. “She never bothered anybody.”
Sanders claimed to see Redmond’s smiling face on her block every day. “She would just walk up and down the block and deliver the mail. It didn’t bother anybody. “So it’s like it’s devastating to the area,” Sanders explained. When Redmond’s coworkers and Roseland customers learned of the young suspect’s arrest, they were both relieved and heartbroken.
“This has been my post office for 48 years,” said Dorothy Rice, a customer at the Roseland Post Office on 11033 S. State St., where Redmond worked. “When children commit adult crimes, then that’s a whole different story that involves all of us, because we’re parents.” The child was quickly extradited back to Chicago to face a single case of first-degree murder. He was detained in Cook County Juvenile Court on Tuesday, with a follow-up hearing scheduled on Friday, November 1.
“He took a life, and his life could be cut short as a result of the murder—and why? That’s the question I’m asking.” stated Rice. “Everyone is asking why. Why her? “What did she do?” Redmond’s death and other safety concerns have prompted legislation aimed at increasing security, such as the Postal Police Reform Act, which would allow USPS police officers to accompany mail carriers on their routes.
“They now basically sit in a parking lot and protect facilities instead of being out on the street,” said Luis Rivas, Jr., president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. The United States Postal Inspection Service has offered a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. It was unclear whether the arrest for Redmond’s murder was the result of a tip.
