Chicago-area man gets 16 years in postal worker's shooting

CHICAGO (AP) - A suburban Chicago man who pleaded guilty in the New Year's Eve 2018 shooting of a U.S. Postal Service worker has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison.

A federal judge in Chicago sentenced Cameron Ruebusch, 25, last week for the shooting in Elk Grove Village that wounded a 36-year-old postal worker, leaving him hospitalized for nine days.

Federal prosecutors announced Ruebusch's sentencing on Wednesday. The Elk Grove Village man had pleaded guilty last year to one count of attempted second-degree murder of a federal employee and one count of knowingly discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Investigators said that on Dec. 31, 2018, the postal worker who had just gotten into his unmarked USPS vehicle when Ruebusch tapped on his passenger window while holding a handgun. The postal worker was shot in his right shoulder as he drove away.

The judge who sentenced Ruebusch on Jan. 8 found that he had obstructed justice after the shooting by disposing of the gun, discarding the clothing he had been wearing, and instructing friends to lie to law enforcement about his whereabouts.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Chester Choi wrote in the government's sentencing memorandum that Ruebusch 'œnearly killed a USPS mail carrier who was merely carrying out his official duties in delivering mail on New Year's Eve." Choi called Ruebush's actions 'œbrazen, callous, and cowardly."