A longtime postal worker was shot to death in Milwaukee on Friday while on his mail route.
Aundre Cross, a 44-year-old mail carrier who worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 18 years, was honored by friends, family, and coworkers at a Saturday vigil, per TMJ4.
The vigil came a day after the Friday shooting, at 4:38 p.m. at the 5000 block of North 65th Street in Milwaukee, according to a release from the Milwaukee Police Department. The MPD did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service out of Chicago confirmed his identity to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The MPD and USPS have since shared releases, asking locals to look out for a silver Audi Q5 SUV with tinted windows, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to a suspect’s arrest. A Suspect has not been identified in the shooting, and a motive has not been released by authorities.
“The shooting death of a Milwaukee postal worker is alarming. My thoughts are with the victim’s family and colleagues,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in a statement. “The postal worker in this homicide was a public servant, which makes this crime even more disturbing.”
Security camera footage obtained by local station WISN reportedly showed gunfire and somebody running to a car, which resembled the one on the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s wanted poster.
Hundreds of locals gathered at the same Hampton Heights neighborhood in the city to honor Cross on Saturday, as those on his mail route said they considered him to be more than their mail career — to some, he felt like a family member. “He touched so many lives, so many, and we as a community we are hurting really, really bad,” resident Sherry Adams said. “It’s going to take us a while to move past this.”
Postal worker Tia R., who worked with Cross for eight years and called the mail carrier “a beacon of light to all of us,” delivered a plea against violence at the vigil. She said she “broke down on the spot” when she heard the news, per WDJT.
“If you know your mail carrier’s out there, your delivery driver’s outside, just make sure they make it to their truck, and they go home safely,” Tia shared. “That’s all we want to do, is go home at the end of the night.”
Cross, a husband and father of four, was honored with flowers, candles, and postal attire being displayed at the area of his shooting. He was remembered as a joy at work, who would make his coworkers laugh even on strenuous 12-14 hour shifts.
“If you had a bad morning, he could come in loud, joyful and change your whole mood. Forget what you were even upset about,” Cross’ friend and coworker, Jyfena Brown, told WISN. “He was a good person. [He has] three beautiful kids, a wife. Imagine how they feel, two weeks before Christmas.”
“Being a carrier in Milwaukee is very scary now. And you are alone on the route. It’s just literally you and the mail,” Brown added.
The MPD are encouraging those with information on the shooting to contact the department.
