on the hostage video just released by Hamas. Coming up right after this newscast. New at five. It's happened again, this time on the Peninsula. Scary moments for a USPS letter carrier robbed at gunpoint on their route. NBC Bay Area's Christie Smith spoke with a postal inspector about why you need to be aware about these crimes. She's in San Carlos. It happened early Thursday afternoon. A letter carrier robbed in this San Carlos neighborhood. And the postal inspector says this isn't the only place this has happened recently. It's sad. Very sad. Neighbor Suzanne Greene learned through an online post that a letter carrier in San Carlos was robbed at gunpoint Thursday afternoon near Walnut Street and Saint Francis Way, mail carrier, during the middle of the day. It's that's just I've never heard of it, I guess, my husband said he's heard of it in other towns, so we're in shock that it's even happening in our town here. The postal inspector says the suspect wore a hood and a mask. I'm shocked. I wasn't aware we ever had crime like that in this area. Sadly, in San Carlos last week, a letter carrier was robbed on their route. This is a depressingly common scenario for letter carriers. It was the fifth or sixth robbery in the Bay Area last week of a letter carrier who's just trying to do their job. Matthew Norfleet is a US postal inspector and says similar incidents have happened in San Bruno, Milpitas, Union City and Oakland, all within about a week or so of each other. The target in almost all of these robberies are the keys that the letter carriers carry in order to open mailboxes along the routes and deliver the mail. So the there's only one reason to have one of these keys if you're not a letter carrier. And that's to steal mail. And there may be more to it. The keys are being traded and sold among mail thieves, and so we want to let the public know, number one, that we take this crime very seriously. This is an intolerable situation for letter carriers to have to be frightened that they're going to be robbed on their routes. They're going to they're having weapons pointed at them. Norfleet says the US Postal Service takes this very seriously and points out postal inspectors are criminal investigators for the Postal service, and these crimes are their highest priority. The reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of anyone who robs or assaults a postal employee of any kind, including these letter carriers, is up to $150,000. So the Postal Service takes this very seriously. The postal inspector says the reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of anyone who robs or assaults a postal employee, including these letter carriers, is up to $150,000 in San Carlos. Christie Smith NBC, Bay Area News As Christie mentioned, there have been several mail carriers targeted recently. Just last month, we reported how thieves broke into a mail truck in Fremont. The postal worker says he was making deliveries when the thieves forced their way into his truck, stealing his wallet and keys. When he returned to the post office, he discovered they stole his
