Florida City, Florida– A 43-year-old man was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison this week after shooting a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service in Florida City.
A federal jury found Charlie Holley, of Florida City, guilty of violently attacking a government employee, brandishing and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of ammunition by a convicted criminal.
He was sentenced on Wednesday.
According to a criminal complaint filed by a US postal inspector, the female postal worker was on her route near Northwest 6th Street and 7th Avenue around 1 p.m. on June 21, 2021, when she went to deliver a small, plastic-wrapped item addressed to “Whitey White.”
She told authorities that she noticed a man, subsequently identified as Holley, peeking out a second-floor window and yelling at her. She recognized him from his prior deliveries to “Whitey White.”
According to the lawsuit, as she neared the front door, the carrier spotted Holley holding a black weapon at her, after which he directed her to leave the package on the ground and open it.
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She objected, claiming she wasn’t allowed to open customers’ mail, and Holley, according to investigators, told her to step to the side.
The postal worker swiftly departed and got into her car to drive away when “she heard a loud thud, which she believed was Holley shooting at her,” the lawsuit states.
Authorities said they discovered a one-inch gunshot hole in the back of the postal truck. Nobody was hurt.
According to police, Holley holed himself in a residence before surrendering to a Miami-Dade Special Response Team following a nearly two-hour confrontation.
Investigators eventually discovered a long rifle in Holley’s home, and witnesses claim he was aiming it at neighbors from a second-story window before the mail carrier incident.
They also discovered a shirt in his residence with the word “Whitey” emblazoned on it.