Mail Worker Killed on Route in rural North Carolina

Safety at Work

Hays, NC (WorkersCompensation.com) – Officials in North Carolina said a mail carrier was shot and killed in broad daylight last week.

According to police reports, the incident happened on Montieth Acres Road in Wilkes County, around 4:15 p.m. on Friday, June 26. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office was called to the scene where they found Brandi Byrd Reynolds dead.

Reynolds, a United States Postal Service worker, had been shot. The NCSBI said in a statement that William Craig Durham, 56, was arrested after an investigation, and has since been charged with kidnapping and murder.  

Witnesses reported seeing an armed man in a gray Nissan Altima threatening a woman in a U.S. Postal Service vehicle, according to The Wilkes Record.

“Residents in the area reported hearing multiple gunshots,” the news outlet reported.

Durham appeared in court on June 29 and was denied bond. During the proceedings, Reynolds family members told the judge in the case that Durham had allegedly been threatening Reynolds and had broken into her home in the past. The family asked that he be held without bond to protect Reynolds two young children.

Prosecutors said Durham had confessed in the case, and that Durham had an extensive prior record, including an assault conviction, several past kidnapping charges, intimidating a witness charges and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Officials said they were continuing to investigate, along with the sheriff’s office and the U.S.P.S.

Reynolds death is the second tragedy to hit the family in recent months. Brent Reynolds, Brandi Reynolds husband, died in a car accident in December. His death left Reynolds alone to raise their two children.

One of the residents on Reynolds route described the hardworking mom as “outgoing, friendly, usually never missed a beat.”

“We could count on her. Like I said, punctuality. I think if you ask anybody in the community, they would probably tell you the same thing,” the resident told news outlets. “I always looked forward to her vehicle come up around our driveway, and now I know that’s not gonna happen.”

Durham is unemployed and lives about 9 miles southeast of where the shooting occurred, police said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 15 to 20 postal worker lose their lives on the job each year. While postal workers are generally safer at work than other professions, they still face fatal risks, primarily from vehicular accidents and homicides.

In May, a postal worker in Kansas City was killed in a hit-and-run after being thrown from his work vehicle. Kansas City Police Department officials said a car entered an intersection and struck the USPS van causing the postal vehicle to overturn and partially eject Gerald Nevels Jr., 34, from his vehicle. Nevels died at the scene.

In April,  Tanisha Cade, 40, a postal worker in DeKalb County, died when another vehicle slammed into her postal vehicle, overturning it. Cade died after becoming trapped under the vehicle.

In February 2026, Dequavious Graves, 31, was shot and killed in DeKalb County, Georgia while working the same postal route he had been on since starting at the U.S. Postal Service in 2023. Nahjel Williams was later arrested and charged him with murder

Last year, mail carriers across the country, and especially in DeKalb County, called for more protection ahead of the one-year anniversary of a letter carrier’s death on the job. Octavia Redmond was delivering mail in July 2024 when she was murdered. Police said the offender, identified only as a male, approached the 48-year-old postal employee, took out a gun and fired shots. She suffered multiple gunshot wounds to her body.

Redmond was taken to a nearby hospital where she died of her injuries. Police said the offender fled the scene after the shooting. Later, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in Iowa and charged with her murder.

Last year, the Chicago chapter of the National Letter Carriers Union said letter carriers continue to be assaulted and robbed while doing their routes. They called for more protection.

"We are performing our duties...we are not messing around, we're performing our duties, rain, sleet and snow," Elise Foster, president of NALC Branch 11, said during a rally on the steps of Redmond’s home post office. "We can't do the bullets y'all."

City leaders backed the postal workers.

"I am here today to stand with our letter carriers," 21st Ward Ronnie Mosely said during the rally. "Letter carriers don't just deliver letters, they are a lifeline to our community...I want you to know if you come for letter carriers, you come for my community, And if you come for my community, you come for me and just like I am a public servant, these letter carriers are public servants."

Bipartisan legislation was submitted in Congress to change sentencing for those who attack postal carriers. In February 2025, the Protect Our Letter Carriers Act (H.R.1065 in the House and S.463 in the Senate) was introduced. It would require the U.S. Sentencing Commission to amend guidelines so that the assault or robbery of a postal worker was treated the same as assaulting a law enforcement officer. The bill would have also directed the U.S. Department of Justice to appoint an assistant U.S. attorney in every judicial district to specifically supervise and coordinate the prosecution of postal crimes, and authorized funding over five years to install high-security collection boxes and replace traditional universal mailbox keys with electronic locks.

That legislation stalled in committee last year.

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