{"id":144099,"date":"2026-01-22T03:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T03:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/144099\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T03:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T03:34:23","slug":"fresno-postal-workers-targeted-in-3-violent-encounters-in-last-week-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/144099\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno postal workers targeted in 3 violent encounters in last week"},"content":{"rendered":"

An alarming rise in attacks on postal workers in Fresno.<\/p>\n

It started last Thursday with a brazen armed robbery in a Central Fresno neighborhood, a crime captured on a doorbell camera. The gunman remains on the run after stealing the letter carrier’s keys, wallet, and phone.<\/p>\n

Another assault Tuesday involved two teens who police say attacked a carrier. Fresno Police have made one arrest in connection with the assault, as they continue searching for a second suspect.<\/p>\n

And on Wednesday, yet a third frightening confrontation. Police say a homeowner pulled out a box cutter, and the mail carrier took out pepper spray.<\/p>\n

“It could be our neighbor, it could be our relative, so it is bad,” says JC, Fresno resident.<\/p>\n

Police say all of these investigations remain ongoing involving not only Fresno PD, but also the Federal U-S Postal Inspection Service.<\/p>\n

“I don’t understand what’s going on, but definitely it’s wrong. These are postal workers. They’re just doing their job,” says JC, Fresno resident.<\/p>\n

ARMED ROBBERY CAUGHT ON CAMERA<\/p>\n

Last Thursday, a man wearing all black approached a letter carrier with a gun, then walked off with his phone, wallet, and mail keys.<\/p>\n

The suspect is still on the run, last seen on Hammond Avenue near Fruit.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Postal worker robbed at gunpoint while delivering mail in Central Fresno, police say<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service the lead agency on the case tells Action News investigators believe the keys may have been the motive.<\/p>\n

“That is frequently the motivation. That is what robbers take usually from letter carriers when they’re on their routes. I want to remind people that there’s no reason to have a postal key except to deliver mail, so if you’re not a letter carrier, you shouldn’t have one. In fact, it is a federal crime to even possess a postal key without authorization,” says Matthew Norfleet, U.S. Postal Inspector.<\/p>\n

VIOLENT ATTACK, ONE TEEN ARRESTED<\/p>\n

Then days later, another assault in broad daylight.<\/p>\n

This one near Marks and Saginaw Way.<\/p>\n

Two suspects attacked, leaving the carrier ‘dazed’ with difficulty breathing, along with minor scratches.<\/p>\n

RELATED: 15-year-old arrested, 1 remains at large for assault of postal worker in central Fresno, police say<\/a><\/p>\n

Fresno Police say a fifteenyearold is now in custody, facing charges including attempted robbery and assault using force. The other suspect remains at large.<\/p>\n

“Your neighborhood is where your mail carrier comes to work. Their job is physically and mentally demanding. They are carrying a heavy sack. They walk miles and miles a day, and they’re trying to read the mail as they go and get all that mail out as quickly as they possibly can,” says Norfleet.<\/p>\n

BRANDISHED BOX CUTTER ON POSTMAN<\/p>\n

And then the following day, another confrontation.<\/p>\n

A carrier used pepper spray on a dog that was trying to jump a fence near Maroa.<\/p>\n

Investigators say the dog’s owner followed and confronted the postal employee, and pulled out a box cutter, the mail man again grabbed his pepper spray. But ultimately, they were able to de-escalate, nobody was hurt, and no charges were filed.<\/p>\n

Each instance raises questions surrounding safety for these federal frontline workers, many of whom work alone in the field.<\/p>\n

“They just aren’t enough people for them to double up. Certainly, postal inspectors are concerned about this. We have always been concerned about it, but when something like this happens, then there’s increased focus on it,” says Norfleet.<\/p>\n

The Postal Inspection Service does have a reward set for anyone who has information that could lead to arrests on any of these cases, they say up to $150,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An alarming rise in attacks on postal workers in Fresno. It started last Thursday with a brazen armed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,3695,72146,72145,72144],"class_list":{"0":"post-144099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news","11":"tag-fresno-police","12":"tag-letter-carrier","13":"tag-postal-inspection-service","14":"tag-postal-workers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}