shot to death on his route, investigators believe over a package. and the crimewave perhaps worst in chicago. police there issuing an alert after a string of postal worker robberies, more than two dozen since the beginning of the year. mail carriers are very frightened, more so than ever because of the ongoing armed robberies. we ve never seen like this, anything like this before. reporter: patrick gibbons is a usps mail handler in chicago and says the growing number of assaults is all he and his colleagues can talk about. the postal workers i work with, they love what they do they enjoy what they do they love to serve the community. they re veryscared they re very nervous. reporter: the postal service wouldn t immediately provide data, but acknowledging to nbc news over the past several years, its employees and the mail have increasingly been marks for criminals. their target an arrow key, a master key that will open any one of these collection boxes and almost any locked box
The suspect allegedly pointed an Airsoft rifle at the victim, and drew a machete from his waistband and slashed at the postal worker before fleeing the scene on foot, police said.