Postal Worker Fatally Shot In East Garfield Park
CHICAGO (CBS) --A 27-year-old postal worker getting ready to head to work ends up shot dead.
Anthony Hayes was killed in his car in East Garfield Park as he was on his way to work.
CBS 2's Jim Williams spoke with the victim's family.
Anthony Hayes was a great young man, his older sister Veronika Hayes told us.
"He had his head on his shoulders," she said. "Went to high school went to college…worked very hard, very long hours."
Just after 6:30 a.m., Hayes was about to drive to his job at the post office when someone fired several shots into his car. Neighbors heard the gunfire.
"One of the neighbors looked outside and happened to see that my brother's car -- his lights were on for just a little bit too long and they actually called my aunt and my aunt came out and discovered him," Hayes said.
Hayes was renting an apartment in the 2800 W. Warren, where his family has several properties There are well maintained homes there, only a mile west of the United Center.
But Derrick Thompson, visiting from Madison, Wisconsin, says his grandfather, who lives there, warns him to be careful.
"Because is not a nice area sometimes, so I just try to keep my distance from people," Thompson said.
Veronika Hayes, a high school teacher, thinks her 27-year-old brother might have been the victim of mistaken identity.
We know his character, she said.
"We're all really, really just had a loss for words and shocked because there was not a malicious bone in his body," she said. "I don't even remember a time when he's been in a physical altercation in his whole life."
Haynes had been a letter carrier for two years. The postal service said it was "deeply saddened by the tragic killing of our co-worker Anthony Hayes."
His sister told us Hayes was saving money to buy a home of his own.
