A U.S. Postal Service letter carrier was shot in the face during a mid-day delivery stop at an Everett, Washington apartment complex on Friday, October 3. Police said the suspected shooter — a package delivery driver — was detained at the scene, and investigators do not believe there is an ongoing threat to the public. The incident unfolded around 12:50 p.m. at the West Mall Place Apartments, just north of Highway 99 near the Everett Mall.
Postal Inspector John Wiegand told local media the altercation began while the USPS carrier was actively working the complex. The carrier was transported for treatment and later moved to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for higher-level care; as of Friday afternoon he was alive and receiving treatment. Neighbors said the postal worker is a familiar face on the route.
Police and postal inspectors have not publicly named the delivery company involved. Local broadcasts and city reporters consistently described the suspect as a “package delivery driver,” and emphasized that officers took the driver into custody immediately after the shooting.
Why it matters for last-mile and trucking operators: This shooting highlights a recurring friction point in dense, multiunit delivery environments — mailrooms, cluster boxes and vestibules where multiple carriers converge under time pressure. In apartment settings, carriers often face competing access rules and tight staging areas. Operationally, that’s a recipe for disputes over “right of way” at common parcel lockers and cluster boxes unless property-level protocols are clear and consistently enforced.
For fleets and delivery service partners, the near-term risk management questions are straightforward: Are drivers trained to yield when a USPS carrier is actively servicing a cluster box? Do DSPs and independent contractors have unambiguous policies barring firearms on duty? Are supervisors reinforcing de-escalation steps — disengage, document, and escalate to management — when access conflicts arise? Those controls are as much about protecting employees as they are about protecting contracts and brand risk.
The Everett case wasn’t an isolated safety flashpoint for mail carriers this week. On Thursday in Beaumont, Texas, police arrested a juvenile accused of shooting a USPS carrier in the eye with an Orbeez-style gel gun in an unprovoked attack; the carrier’s injuries were described as non-life-threatening. While the Texas incident is very different in severity and motive, it underscores the rising randomness of threats that letter carriers and parcel drivers can face on routine stops.
What to watch next: Everett police said the investigation is ongoing. Any charging decisions will shape how carriers, DSPs and property managers recalibrate field protocols at multiunit delivery nodes heading into peak season. For now, the throughline for operators is clear: tighten site-specific playbooks for shared delivery areas, retrain for conflict avoidance, and give drivers an easy, no-fault path to step back and call a supervisor when an access dispute starts to heat up.
Sources: FreightWaves, FOX 13 Seattle, KIRO 7 News Seattle, The Daily Herald (Everett), Beaumont Enterprise
This article was prepared exclusively for TruckStopInsider.com. Republishing is permitted only with proper credit and a link back to the original source.
