Postal Workers Rally To Make Their Job Safer

WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- Rallying for safety. Hundreds of Maryland mail carriers descended on the nation's capital Monday, pushing for federal safer working conditions after a Maryland postal worker was gunned down while delivering mail after dark.

Christie Ileto has more.

Following Tyson Barnette's murder on the clock, fellow employees want changes to work schedules to prevent a repeat of this tragedy.

Maryland postal workers flooded the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington Monday, fighting for safer working conditions alongside Tyson Barnette's family.

"I don't want another life to be taken away," said Bridget Barnette, Tyson's mother.

As the nation remembers Dr. King---gunned down in 1968---Bridget Barnette mourns her 26-year-old son, shot and killed in November while delivering mail in Cheverly after dark.

"When I got the phone call, it was late at night," she said. "It was unbelievable to even think that would happen to him."

While Barnette's killer remains on the run, Barnette's family wants the dangerous hours to stop.

Letter carriers in Landover, where Barnette worked, say their routes are overburdened, coupled with fewer workers.

Following Barnette's death, the hours for Landover mail carriers changed but carriers say they're still delivering in the dark.

"They started having us come in at 8 a.m. so we come in a little earlier than before," said one worker.

Barnette's murder is unsolved. Police are offering a $125,000 reward.

Barnette had been working for the postal service for six years.

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