Days after indictments in a FedEx driver shooting, a nearby UPS driver gets a scare

PIKE COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT) - A UPS delivery driver in Pike County says she got the scare of a lifetime Tuesday when a bullet whizzed past her during a routine package delivery.

The shooter, according to the driver’s testimony on a Pike County Sheriff’s report, continued to train a pistol on her even after she shouted over and over again that she was with UPS and was delivering packages.

The incident in Summit occurred just four days after a Brookhaven father and son were indicted for shooting a FedEx delivery driver earlier this year. The town of Summit lies 20 miles south of Brookhaven.

The UPS driver, who asked not to be identified by name, is a seasonal driver who uses a personal vehicle - a Chevy Tahoe - to make her deliveries. She wears a UPS vest, which serves as a uniform.

She said she takes extra precautions such as notifying residents of her presence by tooting her horn twice and approaching slowly.

On Tuesday, she had a female friend with her in the Tahoe. She had been notified by her supervisor, she said, that the residence on Robert Ayers Road - where she was making the delivery - had several aggressive dogs. She was advised to stay in her vehicle and reach out of a window to place packages on the homeowner’s car, and she was careful to follow those instructions.

In a telephone interview, she said the dogs were indeed circling her vehicle, barking and snarling in a threatening manner when the shot rang out. By then, she and her passenger both had begun shouting, “Don’t shoot! UPS!” The resident, according to the sheriff’s report, shrugged her shoulders and continued training the pistol on the women in the vehicle.

Upon hearing the driver’s testimony, a sheriff sergeant went to the residence to speak with the shooter. “[She] told him she fired the pistol into the ground to try to keep her dogs away,” the report reads.

By telephone, the driver shared that she has been jumpy since the incident, and worried that the shooter will come looking for her. Every sound startles her.

“You could close a microwave door right now and it would send me running for my life,” she said.

Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Copyright 2022 WLBT. All rights reserved.