COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal criminal complaint Wednesday stated that a disgruntled Ohio postal worker murdered two U.S. government employees for performing their official duties.
The complaint signed by a U.S. postal inspector was filed in U.S. district court in Columbus. Deshaune Stewart, 24, was arrested Saturday, accused of fatally shooting his supervisor at a post office in suburban Columbus and then killing a postmaster outside her apartment.
Authorities say Stewart was naked during both attacks.
U.S. Attorney’s spokeswoman Jennifer Thornton said Stewart remained in state custody. A Franklin County court record earlier indicated a mental evaluation was ordered for Stewart, charged with aggravated murder in the Ohio court.
Thornton said federal and local authorities would work together to determine the appropriate venue for prosecution.
No attorney was listed for Stewart.
The U.S. complaint said Dublin police responded at 4:25 a.m. Saturday to a 911 call of an active shooter at the Dublin post office.
Three witnesses told investigators Stewart was “completely nude” inside the post office and identified him as a co-worker, according to the complaint.
Authorities say he first killed Lance Dempsey at the post office. Nearly three hours later, police responding to a call found Postmaster Ginger Ballard dead between vehicles outside her apartment with blunt-force trauma to her head. Stewart was arrested at the scene.
The federal complaint said Stewart told Columbus police that postal managers had been harassing him since he began. He had looked for Ballard in her office before leaving the post office and going to her home to wait in his vehicle for her to come outside, the complaint stated.
Police have said the violence apparently was in retaliation for Stewart’s pending dismissal from his job.
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(Franklin County Sheriff’s Office via The Columbus Dispatch via AP & Randy Ludlow/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)
