Indianapolis, IN

Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Murdering Letter Carrier

Published

1 year ago

June 2, 2023

Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Murdering Letter Carrier

A letter carrier named Angela Summers was delivering mail on her usual route when she walked past a house where the Postal Service had recently stopped delivering because of concerns about a dog on the property.

Upset that the mail had been stopped, a resident of that house, Tony Cushingberry, pursued Ms. Summers and fatally shot her on his street in Indianapolis on April 27, 2020, federal prosecutors said.

On Wednesday, Mr. Cushingberry, 24, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murdering Ms. Summers, 45.

Paul Toms, president of Branch 39 of the National Association of Letter Carriers in Indianapolis, said in an interview on Thursday that the sentence was justified.

“She couldn’t deliver the mail because of the dog and that irritated this young man and he did the unthinkable,” Mr. Toms said.

He noted that Ms. Summers, a union steward who had joined the Postal Service about 15 months before she was killed, had a teenage daughter and had not yet qualified for the union’s life insurance plan.

“The court case has come to a close, but it’s never going to be closed — not for her family or letter carriers,” Mr. Toms said. “She was part of our family.”

According to a criminal complaint, the local post office had sent a letter to Mr. Cushingberry’s house two weeks before the shooting saying that the mail would have to be picked up at the post office because of concerns about a dog on the property. Such letters are not unusual, according to Mr. Toms.

On the day she was killed, Ms. Summer was delivering mail on Mr. Cushingberry’s street when she walked past his house as he watched her from his porch, prosecutors said.

Mr. Cushingberry “aggressively approached” Ms. Summers on a neighbor’s porch and demanded his mail several times, prosecutors said.

He continued to pursue Ms. Summers, who eventually reached for her can of Mace and sprayed Mr. Cushingberry, according to court documents.

Mr. Cushingberry pulled a handgun from his waistband and shot Ms. Summers in the chest from several feet away, the documents state. She collapsed on a neighbor’s porch and was taken to a hospital in critical condition. She died that evening.

Mr. Cushingberry fled after the shooting and stashed the gun in the garage of a nearby home, prosecutors said.

United States Postal Service inspectors and Indianapolis police officers searched Mr. Cushingberry’s house and found a safe that contained boxes of ammunition, including the caliber and brand of fired cartridge casing that matched the gun he used, prosecutors said.

After the shooting, Mr. Cushingberry told investigators that he had never spoken to Ms. Summers before and had only “wanted to scare her,” according to court documents.

Mr. Cushingberry pleaded guilty last July to second-degree murder.

Sara Varner, his lead lawyer, said in a statement that the court, in handing down a sentence of 30 years, did not give sufficient weight to Mr. Cushingberry’s “history of trauma and poverty and resulting post-traumatic stress disorder, his underdeveloped brain at the time of the shooting, his youth, the fact that he had absolutely no criminal history,” and comparable cases of second-degree murder.

“Murder is always serious,” Ms. Varner said, “but this sentence does not represent justice.”

Mr. Cushingberry was the first person in his family to graduate from high school and a “doting father to his infant son,” Ms. Varner said.

“His remorse and deep regret for what he did was reflected in his guilty plea and statement to the court at sentencing,” she said.

After Ms. Summers was killed, local postal workers organized a memorial ride that drew hundreds of motorcyclists and raised $72,000 for her daughter, Mr. Toms said. Postal workers at the union’s national convention raised another $27,000, he said.

Zachary A. Myers, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said in a statement that Ms. Summers was “a beloved family member and public servant, and she should be alive today.”

“No term of imprisonment will bring Angela back,” he said, “but the sentence imposed today demonstrates that those who kill will face judgment and accountability.”

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Indianapolis, IN

National discount retailer to make it's way to downtown Indianapolis

Published

59 mins ago

August 2, 2024

Press Room

National discount retailer to make it's way to downtown Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS — The downtown Indy building Claypool Court is getting a new retailer.

Officials hope major names like Burlington will bring more Hoosiers and visitors to Mile Square.

WRTV

“There’s definitely a lot of higher-end restaurants right around this area, so I think bringing in some retail stores isn’t a bad idea,” Wesley Slaughter, who lives downtown, said.

The store will sit at Washington and Illinois Streets, an area Slaughter says will be a good fit because it’s a heavily trafficked intersection.

“I could see it being beneficial to get more people in the area because otherwise you have to drive outside of 465 just to hit one of those stores,” Slaughter said.

TJ Maxx has been a big part of the downtown retail scene for many years, but now there is some competition with the Burlington that’s going to be a couple of doors down.

WATCH RELATED COVERAGE | Downtown Indy’s Future Plans announced

Downtown Indy’s future plans announced

“We’re excited anytime that there’s a new addition to the retail landscape here in downtown Indianapolis,” Taylor Schaffer, with Downtown Indy Inc., said.

Schaffer says this is just part of a pipeline of new projects and development coming to the area.

The space Burlington will take over is the lower level of Claypool Court. It used to be home to the Rhythm! Discovery Center.

The store is set to open this fall.

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Indianapolis, IN

A Yard Of One’s Own – Indianapolis Monthly

Published

8 hours ago

August 2, 2024

Press Room

A Yard Of One’s Own – Indianapolis Monthly

Credit: Angela Jackson/Indianapolis Monthly

REALTOR Summer Hudson was always waiting for the perfect midcentury modern home to hit the market and lure her away from her beloved Irvington. On Hudson’s popular TikTok channel, Find a Lot to Love, she cooed over original 1960s woodwork and intact bathrooms for the 207,000 followers who enjoyed watching her walk through houses for sale in Central Indiana. But the eXp Realty agent’s own family needed a yard for their 5-year-old daughter more than she needed a pristine Avriel Shull A-frame, so she gave her husband, Ryan Sloan, one criterion: Find a house with the exact same layout as their 3,000-square-foot Irvington ranch, plus a yard, and she’d move.

Lo and behold, he did, in Crows Nest. The three-bed, two-bath house has a circular layout with semi–open concept living, dining, and kitchen spaces and, as a bonus, a pool on the half-acre lot. “I always said I’d never turn down a pool,” Hudson says. The home had been sitting on the market for a while because, in Hudson’s opinion, the listing for 1,800 square feet was misleading; the homeowners couldn’t include the 1,200-square-foot finished attic because the ceiling was too low. Additionally, the photos didn’t do the home justice. “From the outside, it looks tiny and bungalow-ish, but you don’t realize how deep it goes,” she says, adding that the images didn’t showcase the layout’s attractive flow, either. The couple got it under list price for $410,000, and Hudson, who uses the attic as her office, has no regrets—her dream midcentury home can wait. Downsizing forced the couple to purge, and they discovered the joys of a simplified lifestyle. “I’m actually spending more time with my kid out- side. That has been the most amazing part of all of this,” Hudson says.

FAVORITE FEATURE
The nature-filled backyard

PURCHASE DATE
March 2024

NEIGHBORHOOD
Crows Nest

SQUARE FOOTAGE
1,800

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Indianapolis, IN

Indianapolis man sentenced to 110 years for 2021 double homicide

Published

15 hours ago

August 2, 2024

Press Room

Indianapolis man sentenced to 110 years for 2021 double homicide

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis man has been sentenced to 110 years in prison for his role in a north side shooting that resulted in the death of two men during a $20 marijuana deal in 2021.

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office announced the sentencing of 21-year-old Camran Perry on Thursday, following a jury’s verdict after a two-day trial. In July, Perry was found guilty of two counts of murder and carrying a handgun without a license, a release said.

Andrew Jones, 21, and Blake Coffman, 20, died in a shooting about 6:45 p.m. Dec. 1, 2021, in the 8800 block of Westfield Way at the 9000 Westfield apartments. That’s just southeast of the intersection of East 91st Street and Westfield Boulevard.

Investigators interviewed a witness who reported hearing “three loud thumps” and seeing a man in a gray sweatsuit standing behind the victims’ vehicle before fleeing the scene. The witness, along with others, then approached the vehicle and called the police.

Two cellphones were recovered at the scene. Investigators obtained warrants for the phones, one of which belonged to Coffman.

According to a release, on Coffman’s phone, which was logged into his personal Instagram account, investigators found video chats and private messages indicating his intention to meet someone at the location of the shooting. The other user of this account deleted their account just hours after the incident. Digital forensics teams traced this account back to Perry.

Perry was taken into custody on Jan. 10. Initially, he denied knowing either of the victims, but later confessed to meeting up with them to make a purchase. Perry later admitted to engaging in a verbal altercation with Coffman and Jones, before shooting both men, police say.

Prosecutor Ryan Mears issued the following statement after the conviction:

“Young people having easy access to firearms leads to them making poor, split-second decisions that result in senseless deaths and tragedy,” stated Prosecutor Mears. “It is incumbent upon us to continue to empower young people with the tools to be mindful of the long-term consequences of gun violence in order to avoid tragedies like this.”

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