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Attacked near his postal van outside a shopping center

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A U.S. postal carrier was shot and killed yesterday afternoon as he stood next to his postal van in a shady spot in the Crafton-Ingram Shopping Center, apparently taking a midday break from the heat.

	Allegheny County homicide detectives and U.S. Postal Inspectors investigate the scene where a mail carrier was shot and killed next to his van outside of the Crafton-Ingram Shopping Center. Click photo for larger image. (Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette)

Clayton J. Smith, 45, of Colliers, W.Va., died at 4:24 p.m. at Allegheny General Hospital, according to the Allegheny County coroner's office. He died nearly two and a half hours after he was shot once in the back, according to postal officials.

Smith, who had worked out of the Green Tree post office for nine years, had already finished delivering the mail on one of his two routes, U.S. Postal Inspector Andrew Richards said. He was on the way to his second route, in the Ingram area.

Smith's van, clearly marked as a U.S. Postal Service vehicle, was parked next to a strip of trees on the Ingram side of the shopping center. Richards said Smith was standing next to the driver's side door, which was open, and had his back to the wooded area. He said there was no indication that Smith had been robbed.

"There's a man standing there, minding his own business, sorting through some mail," Richards said.

Joe Aguglia, 18, of Crafton, was headed to the shopping center's PNC Bank branch at about 2 p.m. when he heard a single popping sound.

He thought it was a firecracker -- "like one of those pull-pops you get at a 7-Eleven, it sounded like five of those at once" -- and thought nothing of it. About 10 or 15 seconds later, he heard a cry for help, and he saw Smith slouched against the door of the van.

Aguglia and a woman went to help. Aguglia saw no blood except for a cut on Smith's lip. Aguglia said Smith told them he was unable to feel his legs, and that his body was going numb.

"He went off into space there," Aguglia said. "It was like he couldn't comprehend what we were saying."

At the time, Aguglia thought Smith was suffering from heat stroke.

He didn't connect the injury with the popping noise. Not until Allegheny County homicide detectives appeared at his mother's door later yesterday afternoon did he even consider that Smith had been shot.

The investigation is being handled jointly by Allegheny County police and U.S. Postal Inspectors. Because Smith was a federal employee, his murder is both a state and federal crime.

The U.S. Postal Service is offering up to a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Smith's killer. Anyone with information can call 1-800-846-4677, which is available 24 hours a day.

Lori Shontz can be reached at lshontz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1722.