Smiling' female postal worker, 48, is brutally shot and killed while delivering mail in Chicago as locals mourn 'mom of the neighborhood'

A postal worker who was considered 'the mother of the neighborhood' has been fatally shot in Chicago. 

Octavia Redmond, 48, who brought joy to the people on her route with her warm smile, was delivering mail when an unknown gunman drove by and shot her around noon on Friday. 

According to Chicago Police, the shooting occurred on South Harvard Avenue in the South Side area.

Redmond was busy delivering mail on her route when the suspect pulled out his weapon and fired multiple shots at her, before speeding away down 121st Street.

Neighbors later claimed that they heard at least ten gunshots ring out.  

Authorities are still looking for the unknown attacker, whose white Dodge Durango was discovered torched on Saturday.

At this time, Chicago police are considering the possibility that the beloved wife and grandmother was targeted. 

According to Fox 32, sources familiar with the matter said that the killer trailed Redmond. 

They also claimed that the veteran postal worker was discovered with all of her possessions, suggesting that the attack was targeted and not a robbery.

Right before she was shot, Redmond delivered mail to a resident of the neighborhood.

Only a few seconds later, the resident, who didn't wish to be identified, said he heard at least eight gunshots.

'I came to the living room and looked out of the window. That's when I saw her laying on the ground. I'm like, that's the postal worker,' he told Fox 32.

After the attack, the 48-year-old was rushed to Christ Hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead.

People who live and work in the neighborhood were shocked by the violence, which they say is not characteristic of the quiet area.

'I'm still looking for my morning smile or my afternoon smile,' Kim Sanders, who worked in the neighborhood, said.

'Now, I got to adjust to somebody else,' she told ABC7.

'It can't be true, not in this area, not in this block, because it's a lot of older people. And all of us know each other,' Sanders told ABC7.

'My heart is shattered, because there was a nice lady. She'd just come up and down the block and deliver the mail, didn't bother nobody,' the heart-broken woman continued. 

Residents on Redmond's route remembered her as always having a smile on her face.

'We all knew her... she was like a mother to the neighborhood,' Sanders said. 

'She'll walk up to me. She's like, "Have a good day," sometimes. And she'll see the clients and sometimes give them a sucker or something,' she continued.

'She was a very, very good mail lady.'

On Friday night, a flag hung at half-staff outside a South Side union hall to commemorate Redmond, whose husband also works as a mail carrier.

In an effort to help find the person responsible, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Chicago Division is offering a reward up to $250,000 for information leading to the murderer's arrest and conviction. 

'One of our own, a postal employee, we take it as seriously as anything, because this is why we're here,' Spencer Block with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said at a press conference.

Elise Foster, the Branch 11 President of the National Letter Carriers Association (NALC), voiced her outrage following the shocking murder.

'I had the opportunity to meet with [Redmond] and talk to her, she’s a great co-worker,' she told ABC7.

'Sister Redmond will not be going home to her family and I have a problem with that.' 

Foster heaped further praise on the late mail carrier, hailing her as a 'great person.'

The NALC President also indicated that greater efforts need to be taken against those who target federal employees, like postal workers. 

'They need to be prosecuting them. We are federal employees. How dare you? And, you just think you can get away with it?'

Foster continued: 'My members are scared to go to work.'

'We are under attack here in Chicago.'