U.S. Postal Service suspends service to Glassell Park’s notorious Drew Street after shooting

The U.S. Postal Service has stopped delivering mail to a neighborhood in Glassell Park once considered among the most dangerous in Los Angeles after a carrier was nearly shot there last month, a USPS official said.

“Our primary goal is to ensure the safety of our employees while providing service to our customers,” spokeswoman Evelina Ramirez said in a statement. “We are reviewing all options to come up with the best solution.”

For now, residents living in the 3300 and 3400 blocks of Drew Street have to travel about a mile to the Glassell Park Station office to pick up their mail, Ramirez said.

The letter carrier was “nearly hit by bullets” in the neighborhood June 27, Ramirez said. Los Angeles police confirmed there was a shooting but provided no other details of the incident. The postal service said it was communicating with police and local representatives about the incident.

Glassell Park has a long history with violence, but the neighborhood appeared to turn the chapter in 2008 and 2009, when more than 140 Avenues gang members were indicted, including 70 from the Drew Street clique.

The crackdown came about a year after Avenues members shot and killed a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy outside his home, which was within city limits.

Shootings and violent crime have remained about the same for about the last two years for the substation that oversees Glassell Park, according to LAPD statistics.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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