Shooter's Mail Had Been Suspended Due to Vicious Dog
Angela Summers was murdered after a dispute involving a vicious dog escalated.
Criminal Complaint
Indianapolis, IN - On April 27, 2020, a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) carrier was shot and killed while delivering mail in the 400 block of North Denny Street. Angela Summers, 45-years old, was taken to Eskenazi Hospital, where she died. Summers was shot outside a home where she had complained about a vicious dog. Mail service at the suspect's home had already been halted for two weeks. The USPS issued a $50,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's arrest.
On April 28, a 21-year old man was arrested in connection to her death. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) headed the homicide investigation and the Indianapolis Metro Police Department assisted. At that time, no motive was given. However, Paul Toms, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ union Indianapolis branch, told media outlets the fatal shooting took place at a home where he believed Summers had issues with an aggressive dog.
On April 29, federal prosecutors filed murder charges against the suspect. Tony Cushingberry-Mays was charged with second-degree murder, assaulting a federal employee and discharging a firearm during a crime, according to court documents. When Summers passed by Cushingberry-Mays' home at about 4:00 pm Monday, he confronted Summers on a neighbor's porch, demanding his mail. Summers sprayed the man with mace and then he shot and killed her, authorities said.
On April 30, Toms told media outlets that two letters warning the family to contain their dog were ignored. "So a third letter went out, your mail will be curtailed until you correct it," he said. Within the undelivered mail to the suspect's home were two long-awaited federal stimulus checks, Toms said. When mail is suspended in this manner, the person can obtain the mail by picking it up at the local post office branch. That office was less than one mile away from Cushingberry-Mays' home.
Affidavit in Criminal Complaint
Now that some readers have already clicked on the news articles that we linked to above, we ask that you compare those articles to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, which is vastly richer in details and offers a first hand statement-of-facts from the investigating Postal Inspector, Joseph J. De St Jean, who had previously been a Gary, Indiana Police Officer. This document is far more compelling and informative than any media article we have reviewed about this case.
Detectives learned through interviews that Angela Summers had a confrontation with a black male on the porch located at 422 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN 46201. A witness described the male suspect as 6’0 to 6’3” in height, thin to medium build, wearing a black and red long-sleeved shirt, black pants, and a dark colored mask that covered half his face. The witness added that the confrontation escalated and the mail carrier pepper sprayed the male. As a result, the male shot her, striking her once in the chest. The witness heard the occupants standing on the front porch of 426 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN 46201, repeatedly screaming, “Tony, no.” The witness stated the male fled in the direction of 426 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN 46201.
The USPIS confirmed with USPS management that the occupants of 426 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN 46201, have had several issues with their dog. This resulted in a mail hold being placed on the residence. More specifically, on or about April 13, 2020, the USPS Linwood Indianapolis Post Office sent a letter to the Cushingberry residence informing them that they would have to retrieve their mail from the post office due to concerns with their dog. On April 27, 2020, the USPIS confirmed that the mail was still being held at the Linwood Indianapolis Post Office ...
On April 28, 2020, at approximately 9:11 pm, CUSHINGBERRY-MAYS provided a statement to law enforcement officers in the company of his attorney. CUSHINGBERRY- MAYS stated he shot the letter carrier. He stated the letter carrier was not delivering the mail because she was having a problem with the dog at his residence of 426 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN. CUSHINGBERRY-MAYS was on the porch as the letter carrier approached his residence of 426 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN. The letter carrier walked past his residence, did not deliver their mail, and proceeded to the next residence (422 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN) to deliver mail.
CUSHINGBERRY-MAYS stated he approached the letter carrier as she was delivering mail at 422 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN and asked for their mail. He asked for their mail several times and the letter carrier did not respond to him. He said he stepped onto the porch steps of 422 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN. He was approximately six feet away from the letter carrier. He said the letter carrier turned around, grabbed her mace spray, and sprayed CUSHINGBERRY-MAYS. CUSHINGBERRY-MAYS then pulled his handgun from the right side of his waistband (no holster)1, pointed his handgun at the letter carrier, and fired one shot at the letter carrier. He acknowledged the mace was not deadly, but led to discomfort from his asthma. CUSHINGBERRY-MAYS stated he then fled the scene and went to the residence of his aunt Taylor Hawkings near 21st St in Indianapolis, IN. CUSHINGBERRY-MAYS further stated that he placed the handgun in the garage of his mother’s residence (426 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN)...
Cushingberry-Mays claimed that he never spoke to Summers before the shooting and that he had not meant to kill her, but only wanted to scare her (by shooting her). Cushingberry-Mays stated that his mother Acacia Cushingberry and cousin Tiffany Reed witnessed the incident. He stated he wore a black scarf/mask with a multicolored top, states the affidavit. This particular mask aspect might become important during the trial -- was it an identity mask, a coronavirus mask or both?
The Ongoing Dog Dispute
In the aftermath of the shooting, DogsBite.org followers in Indiana began sending in screenshots of private Facebook posts by Summers. The concern and suspicion regarded the type of dog involved. Heavy.com already published most of them. Summers posted on April 25 to an album "Tales from the Route" about a home with a chihuahua -- calling it a "nasty devil." Summers states, "Three times they've gotten a dog warning card in their mail box with their address on it."
"A month ago, the last time the dog was loose and wouldn't stop coming after me, they stopped receiving mail. Now stimulus checks are going out. Guess who did not get one yesterday?" Again, this is two days before Summers was shot. As Summers walked by the house April 25 while the dog barked at her, "A woman stands up hollers for my attention. She tells me that she's the 'lady of this house' and that if I ever mace her dog again, she'll personally mace me," she wrote.
The confrontation escalated from there, including the woman "yelling that if I talk to those kids again she's going to set a pit bull loose on my white bitch ass," Summers wrote. "I am beginning to feel seriously unsafe, how exactly does race factor in this, is she threatening to commit a hate crime against a federal employee?" Meanwhile, throughout all of this, the mail belonging to 426 North Denny Street was obtainable by a visit to the Linwood Indianapolis Post Office.
After the postal service sent multiple warning letters to the home, and the homeowners still did not comply, mail delivery was suspended on or about April 13. Toms, a spokesman for the union, confirmed that the union believed the motive of the shooting was linked to the home not receiving their stimulus check. “Yes, there was a history on this for quite a while, as I understand it," Toms said. "I want something like this to never happen again. It should never happen," Toms said.
Tony Cushingberry-Mays
Cushingberry-Mays already confessed to the shooting. According to federal law, if convicted of murder in the second degree, Cushingberry-Mays could face life in federal prison. He is also charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. In a fatal instant, Cushingberry-Mays literally threw his entire life away by killing Summers in cold blood over a dispute that began with a dog.
Meanwhile, someone has started a Tony Cushingberry Facebook page asking for comments from people who know him, "saying the person he is." If you have "any pictures, memories, or just know him personally had a conversation to show the true heart he had and the sweetest person he was please, please comment inside," states the page. This defendant will indeed need character witnesses during the criminal trial, assuming a plea offer is not reached, and during sentencing.
Angela Summers Fund
By Friday, a fund organized by Melanie Davis had raised over $19,000 for Summers' funeral expenses. "She never got the opportunity to tell her daughter that she loved her one last time," Davis states. "Our daughter wasn't able to see her for a-month-and-a-half due to the coronavirus travel restrictions and Angela's essential worker exposure risk. Now, she never will," she wrote. Davis is honored to be the person to carry out her last wishes and is asking the public for help.
One commenter on the fund, Kathryn Tobacco, wrote, "My heart broke that the reason she was hurt because she had refused to deliver mail to a house with vicious dogs. I hope we can raise enough money to fund her child's college education." Terry Flippo wrote, "I'm a retired postal worker who runs the Deliver Me! Facebook group, of which Angela was a member. I also write and draw a comic strip of the same name. I shared this cartoon on the page in honor of Angela."
A Societal Decline
For the majority of people, the coronavirus is a difficult time. For those eligible and still waiting for a stimulus check, it is an even more difficult time. This does not equate to an escalating dispute over a completely resolvable issue about a nuisance dog -- sign the "dog letter" and put the dog inside your home during mail delivery. Furthermore, the owners of the dog had two warnings prior to their mail being suspended. How difficult was it to simply comply with these warnings?
Notably, according to Summers, the "lady of the house" had greatly upped the ante in the dispute two days before the shooting by threatening to "mace" Summers and threatening "to set a pit bull loose" on her, a dog breed that often inflicts damaging injuries, including death. There is no confirmation that Summers' April 25 Facebook post refers to the residents at 426 North Denny Street. This is simply inferred on our part because the events and dog dispute closely coincide.
Every year there are media reports of neighbor disputes over loose or aggressive dogs ending in gunfire and human death. This case involves a federal employee, who was simply trying to do her job and had issued multiple warnings to the dog owners. This is unacceptable and illustrates a societal decline. Multiple families have now been destroyed -- all for nothing. The suspect's mother's Facebook page shows photographs of him growing up. Now he faces life behind bars.
Angela Summers and Tony Dashaun Cushingberry-Mays, who shot and killed Summers.
Letter carrier Angela Summers was murdered after a vicious dog dispute led to mail suspension.
Related articles:
04/15/19: 2019 Dog Bite Prevention Week: Protect Your Postal Carrier from Damaging Dog Bites
Quote: “Every year there are media reports of neighbor disputes over loose or aggressive dogs ending in gunfire and human death.” Is there any neighborhood in America where the innocent are Not constantly threatened with this specific threat? When are the loose dog people Not making this direct threat? Show me any nice/normal or better neighborhood that does not have this life and limb and death conflict fulminating above the surface. Innocent people live with the real threat of being mauling victims and/or murder victims. When the loose dog people do shoot the innocent, it may occasionally garner media attention. People who openly threaten to kill to protect their right to let their dangerous animals roam: what neighborhood does Not have such people?
A hate crime too. The “the women of the house, said”I will set a pit bull loose on your white bitch ass”. Wonder if he had a permit for that gun too. He needs to be charged with more than 2nd degree too.
This is why that oft-repeated bit of advice, “Talk your neighbor!” is a bunch of BS.
We, the victims of dogs, are often told to talk to our neighbors about the dogs’ barking, growling, lunging, chasing, et cetera, and so forth.
That’s right, just take a cuppa cawfee over to your sociopathic neighbor’s place and have a friendly little chat.
Fat lotta good it does. It’s the kind of advice that can get you killed.
Better advice is have a weapon on you and be prepared to use it. On the dog and the owner if necessary.
This has to be one of the more tragic stories I have read on this wonderful website, and there have been plenty of those types of stories. It is hard to believe that this family either a:) couldn’t control their dog or b:) walk to the local post office and retrieve their mail. This is the height of sheer laziness. And the suspect saying, “yeah I shot her but I was just trying to scare her” is the height of perfidy. RIP Ms. Summers and I hope you rot in hell Mr. Cushingberry-Mays.
Two lives were lost over a dog. The mail carrier is gone forever. The shooter will likely be locked up for many many years. Children lost their mother forever. And all over a dog. This is the epitome of stupidity. It would have been so easy if the dog’s owner had simply complied with the rules. No jail. No fine. Instead, a worker was murdered needlessly; and, no doubt, children of the shooter’s family think he did nothing wrong. Criminal activity continues.
Quote: “…no doubt, children of the shooter’s family think he did nothing wrong. …” You are correct. Yet, his murderous actions are not based on stupidity or laziness. Yes, the family, friends and society of the shooter think he did nothing wrong, but this thinking is not based on stupidity or lack of information, or laziness. Instead, his murderous actions, and the thinkings of his society are based on this one thing: Willfully threatening murder, and committing murder to defend their right to let their dangerous animals freely roam. Individuals, cultures and societies that are based on aggressive hate will take aggressive action to defend their their right to let their dangerous animals freely roam. The only solution is Love. The solution can only come when Love replaces hate. When individuals and societies are Love based, instead of hate based, is when individuals will no longer bear and unleash dangerous animals. Anytime dangerous animals are possessed and/or accidentally let loose and/or purposely let loose is when the responsible person is hate based, instead of Love based.
It would also help a lot if there was any REAL punishment of these negligent dog owners BEFORE it leads to murder. Dog owners MUST be made to understand the dog is THEIR responsibility, and there is no moral obligation to having an animal they are not willing to take proper care of..
Dog owners today seem to hate responsibility. My own neighbor’s yard sounds like a kennel because they have nothing to do with their dogs other than a food and water bowl, but of course it’s MY fault for complaining that I can’t even open my door without their dogs going off like explosive diarrhea and have lost my legal RIGHT to quiet enjoyment of MY property. Not to mention the number who ignore the local leash law, and an animal control office that wants nothing to do with getting people to control their animals but only wants to be pit bull social workers.
KaD, your neighbors sound a lot like mine. As does your animal control.
And that comment I wrote up there? The one about the folly of being told to talk to one’s neighbors? Well, I speak from personal experienc.
I meant to say “experience.” Sorry for the typo!
“CUSHINGBERRY-MAYS stated he approached the letter carrier as she was delivering mail at 422 North Denny Street, Indianapolis, IN and asked for their mail. He asked for their mail several times and the letter carrier did not respond to him.”
To make this even more tragic, it was unlikely she was even carrying the mail for this household. I imagine the mail would have remained on hold at the post office.
What a tragic waste of the life of this mother. Heartbreaking that just trying to be responsible and safe as you carry out your work duties is enough to get you killed.
Notice that when the “woman of the house” threatened the mail carrier with an attacking dog, she did not say that she would command the Chihuahua which started the drama to attack her. Oh no. She threatened the mail carrier with a pit bull, something that we all know is lethal. I’d like to hear pit bull apologists defend this one. So they always say that “Chihuahuas are the most vicious of all dogs.” Okay, then if that’s true the mail carrier had a very legitimate reason to suspend the mail since the Chihuahua had been coming after her on multiple occasions. So there goes their defense of “But but but… it’s just a Chihuahua, why would she be so afraid of it that she would suspend their mail? And why would she have maced a Chihuahua?” Here’s the answer… because she does not have to put up with being harassed and bitten by ANY dog while she’s just trying to perform her duties.
Yet, still using the pit apologists’ reasoning (was that an oxymoron?) that Chihuahuas are just as dangerous as pits, then the homeowner should have threatened to have the CHIHUAHUA attack her “bitch white ass.” But she didn’t. The homeowner threatened the mail carrier with a pit bull. Because they all know, and we certainly know, that a Chihuahua is not a lethal threat. An annoyance, to be sure, and even a danger in some cases, and most definitely not something the carrier should have had to deal with just to do her job… but not deadly.
So which is it, pit folk? Is the Chihuahua not “just as dangerous” as the pit? Or isn’t it?
I’ve said before, it will be the USPS that will have the clout to make some changes to the handling of dangerous dogs in our neighborhoods. No one has the “right” to keep a dangerous dog, and they certainly have no right to inflict them on anyone else. Those who oppose the pit bull lobby have been unable (for the most part) to organize and be effective using legislation to regulate the ownership, handling and penalties related to dangerous dogs. Every USPS incident should be a catalyst to get lasting change on this issue. This is NOT “about pit bulls”; it is about “dangerous dogs”. However, it is the pit bull lobby that is hindering any real change to ordinances and statutes.
Well, I just spent some time on FB reading all the good things about the killer and circular references to what he “purportedly” did. He is referred to as respectful, polite, responsible, hard-working, willing to help someone in need, sweet, charming, very loving, always pleasant, has never been seen getting angry, upset yes, scared yes, a lover of people, cool chill, super goofy, having a big heart, a love bird, a heart of gold. Yes, I feel like I’m reading descriptions about a pit bull up for “adoption” at the local shelter. The site also includes photos of the killer when he was young and before the gang-style neck tatts.
I’d wager that this guy has a lengthy criminal record.
I suspect he has a lengthy record as a minor. Most people don’t start their life of crime with murder. Anyone impulsive enough to point and fire a loaded gun at someone over mail delivery has issues.
Very sad, and so unnecessary. Dog owning is a responsibility, not a “right.” I had a neighbor who got their mail delivery stopped because of their potentially aggressive dog. They moaned and complained about it, but a month later they did the right thing and put up a fence so they could get their mail delivery back. (and it was a real fence appropriate for their dog.)