Indianapolis man who was upset he wasn’t getting his mail pleads guilty to killing a postal worker

An Indianapolis man who was upset that he wasn’t getting his mail pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a postal carrier, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Tony Cushingberry, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday in the 2020 death of letter carrier Angela Summers, the U.S. attorney’s office for Southern Indiana said.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. A sentencing date hasn’t been set.

Mail wasn’t being delivered to Cushingberry’s home because of issues with a dog at the home, according to court documents.

While Summers was delivering mail on April 27, 2020, Cushingberry approached her and she backed away onto a neighbor’s porch. She sprayed him with defensive spray just before she was shot, plea agreement documents say.

“Summers was a dedicated public servant simply doing her job when she was senselessly murdered,” U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers said in a statement.

A request for comment from an attorney listed as representing Cushingberry wasn’t immediately returned Wednesday.

Cushingberry told police that he didn’t intend to kill the letter carrier but wanted to scare her, a postal inspector wrote in an affidavit associated with a criminal complaint.

The mail at the home was placed on hold and had to be retrieved from a post office about two weeks before the shooting because of the dog, the affidavit says.