The case against a man accused of shooting a postal worker in Everett is now being picked up by the federal court system. The move marks a significant step in a prosecution that began with a confrontation outside an apartment building last fall.
According to court documents, Blake Coleman was dropping off Amazon packages at an apartment building in Everett last October. While he was there, he got into an argument with a United States Postal Service delivery driver, Anthony Santoro. What began as a dispute quickly turned violent.
The documents say Coleman admitted to shooting Santoro. In statements to investigators, he claimed that he had acted in self defense. Coleman told investigators he believed that Santoro may have been a mafia assassin, an assertion that framed his account of the confrontation.
The consequences for the postal driver were severe. Santoro lost his right eye in the shooting. The injury left a lasting mark on a worker who had been going about his delivery route when the encounter with Coleman took place.
Now the matter has been elevated beyond the local level. The case against Coleman is being picked up by federal court, a shift that reflects the seriousness of the charges tied to the shooting of a federal postal employee while he was on the job.
The next step in the process is already scheduled. Coleman's preliminary hearing is set for July 21st. That hearing will move the case forward within the federal system, as prosecutors lay out the evidence gathered since the shooting last October.