Man allegedly shot postal worker dead after becoming convinced he poisoned him and his family with cyanide

A Pennsylvania mailman is dead and his neighbor is under arrest after he allegedly became convinced the United States Postal Service worker had poisoned him and his family, federal agents said.

Around 10 a.m. Oct. 7, Louis Vignone was delivering mail on his route in Collier Township when Eric Kortz, 53, allegedly drove up in a van, blocked Vignone’s USPS truck and shot him multiple times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported, citing U.S. postal inspectors.

Kortz allegedly dropped his gun and drove to the Carnegie police station, where he “stated that he shot someone and wanted to turn himself in,” an affidavit states.

Vignone suffered multiple injuries, including a wound to the head, and he died at the scene.

The shooting suspect, a former neighbor of the postal worker, claimed Vignone and his family poisoned him and his family with cyanide when they lived near one another, the affidavit claims, noting Kortz allegedly said as a result he “went to put some bullets in him.”

Kortz is charged with murdering a United States employee, and possession and discharging of a gun during a crime of violence. He is being held in federal custody.

“He didn’t seem like anybody could have a grudge against him,” Ken Bock told the Post-Gazette, noting Vignone had worked delivering mail in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred for about 15 years. “Just seemed like a real nice guy. I talked to him briefly a couple of times when I’d be cutting the grass and he’d be delivering the mail.”