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Eric M. Kortz, 53, of Pittsburgh, shot and killed a uniformed USPS worker on Thursday, as Daily Voice previously reported.
Louis Vignone, 58, was shot multiple times while working his regular route as a US Postal Service letter carrier.
Vignone was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of multiple gunshots, including one to the head.
A gun and seven spent shell casings were found in the yard near the postal vehicle, according to investigators.
Kortz turned himself in and was taken to the Allegheny County Police Headquarters where he confessed to the murder.
Kortz told them he shot Vignone because he believed Vignone and his family had poisoned Kortz and Kortz’s family with cyanide when they were neighbors previously, according to the USDOJ.
Kortz had followed Vignone on his mail route to the intersection of Columbia Avenue and Suburban Avenue.
He drove up in front of the USPS truck and told Vignone he “went to put some bullets in him,” according to police.
Kortz has been charged with Murder of an Employee of the United States and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison or the death penalty.
He will next appear before a judge on Oct. 12 at 3 p.m.
The last time a postal carrier was killed in the Pittsburgh area was in 2003. In that instance, the carrier was shot in the back in Ingram and died hours later at a nearby hospital.
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