Postal Updates

Rioters set fire to two Minnesota post offices

Jun 5, 2020, 8 AM
The Minnehaha Station and Lake Street post offices in Minneapolis were set ablaze by rioters following the May 25 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody. (Photo of the Minnehaha post office courtesy of Evan Kalish, Postlandia.)

By Bill McAllister, Washington Correspondent

Two United States post offices in Minnesota were destroyed during the rioting that swept through Minneapolis after the May 25 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Both the Lake Street and Minnehaha Station post offices were destroyed by rioters who set the buildings on fire, according to a USPS statement.

“There has been damage sustained to other facilities where protests have occurred around the country,” said Postal Service spokeswoman Kimberly Frum.

She did not offer a damage estimate or list any of the damaged facilities.

Minnesota media accounts said both post office buildings were a total loss.

“Postal inspectors are working hard to gather evidence and identify those responsible,” Frum said in an email to Linn’s Stamp News.

There were no injuries to postal employees in the two fires. 

Some mail was destroyed, and mail deliveries to some parts of Minneapolis were interrupted, according to a postal official.

“As a precautionary measure, the Postal Service has temporarily removed some collection boxes in St. Paul and Minneapolis,” said a USPS statement.

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