A postal route turned violent Friday, October 3, when a U.S. Postal Service carrier was shot during a confrontation with another delivery driver outside the West Mall Place Apartments in south Everett, Washington. Police said the suspect — described as a package delivery driver — was taken into custody at the scene, and there is no ongoing threat to the public. The incident was reported around 12:50 p.m., and the wounded USPS employee was transported from the complex to Providence Regional Medical Center.
Local reporting and photos from the scene indicate the rival driver was working an Amazon route, with images showing an Amazon-branded van positioned near a USPS vehicle behind crime-scene tape. While police did not immediately name the company, My Everett News said the driver worked for Amazon, and Fox 13 confirmed only that the suspect was a “package delivery driver.”
An Everett-focused site, Seen In Everett, reported late Friday that the postal worker was shot in the face and later transferred to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. The outlet also reported the suspect was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on suspicion of first-degree assault as investigators — including U.S. Postal Inspectors — worked the case. Those details had not been released by police in initial briefings to larger media.
Neighbors who posted online described a dispute that began in the apartment mail area and escalated into a physical altercation before the shot was fired. One resident said the suspect waited in his vehicle for officers and claimed self-defense. These accounts are anecdotal and have not been confirmed by police, but they track with the timeline authorities provided Friday.
Why it matters for delivery fleets: This shooting underscores a growing friction point for last-mile carriers — shared access to mailrooms and clustered mailbox units at multifamily properties. These “chokepoints” concentrate multiple carriers on tight timetables in confined spaces, raising the risk of operational conflict that can spill over into safety incidents. Fleet managers should revisit apartment-complex playbooks: define handoff rules for shared spaces, build de‑escalation and conflict-avoidance drills into driver training, and clarify when to stand down and call building management or dispatch rather than press for access. The Everett case also highlights how rapidly an on-route disagreement can trigger cascading consequences — from route delays and equipment impounds to criminal exposure — particularly when a federal employee is involved and federal investigators enter the scene.
Near-term operational impacts are likely to be localized — expect temporary delivery delays and heightened police presence around the complex — but national providers should treat this as a signal event. Multifamily deliveries are an expanding share of parcel volume; aligning policies across contractors, station managers and property owners on access etiquette, queueing, and “do-not-engage” thresholds can reduce flashpoints. The fact pattern in Everett is still developing, but the common elements are familiar to anyone running dense urban routes.
Authorities had not released the victim’s condition as of the weekend. KIRO 7 noted only that the carrier was hospitalized, while Fox 13 added that detectives continued to investigate. Everett’s daily paper, The Herald, also reported the arrest and hospital transport but said the condition was not immediately disclosed.
What’s next: Police and federal postal inspectors are expected to determine formal charging decisions early this week. For carriers and delivery service providers, now is the time to reinforce site-specific protocols with drivers — especially at apartments with locker banks or cluster boxes where routes overlap — and to emphasize that any access dispute is a dispatch call, not a street-level negotiation.
Sources: FreightWaves, KIRO 7 News Seattle, FOX 13 Seattle, My Everett News, The Daily Herald (HeraldNet), Seen In Everett
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