



Postal workers were sorting the flood of pre-Christmas mail when a co-worker walked in — naked and carrying a handgun — three hours before the carrier’s scheduled rounds.



The panicked workers at the Dublin Post Office scattered as the man walked into the sorting bay and approached his immediate supervisor around 4:25 a.m. Saturday.



"What the hell?" the supervisor asked before police say Stewart shot him in the shoulder. The man facing firing from his job then fired another shot after his victim crumpled to the ground. He targeted his supervisor and threatened no one else.



Four miles away and nearly three hours later, the suspect was still naked and armed when he was seen chasing a woman around an apartment parking lot. He threw the postmaster to the pavement, crushing her skull and killing her instantly, police said.



With a week remaining in 2017, Columbus recorded its 138th homicide of the year on the northwest side, one short of matching the record of 139 in 1991.



Columbus Police Homicide Sgt. David Sicilian termed the slayings "workplace violence," saying the man apparently retaliated against those whom he accused of being behind his pending dismissal from the U.S. Postal Service.



Deshaune K. Stewart, 24, was charged by Dublin police with premeditated aggravated murder in the death of Lance Maurice Herrera Dempsey, 52, at the Dublin post office.



Columbus police charged Stewart with murder in the death of Ginger Ballard, 53. Police said early on Saturday she was a postal inspector. Online U.S. Postal Service documents refer to Ballard as postmaster of the Dublin post office.



Dublin police listed Stewart with a northeast side address; Columbus police said he lived in the Canal Winchester area.



Armed with a semi-automatic handgun, the still-naked Stewart surrendered when confronted by officers near Ballard's apartment on Bowland Place on the northwest side of Columbus, police said.



He apparently waited in his car for Ballard to arrive after the post office shooting, said Sgt. David Sicilian of the Columbus homicide squad. Police received a call at 7:18 a.m. that a man with a gun was chasing a woman.



The woman's body was found between two parked vehicles at the Strathmoor apartment complex.



The string of violence began about 4:25 a.m. at the U.S. Post Office in Dublin on Emerald Parkway.



An affidavit filed by Dublin police quoted postal workers as saying that Stewart was naked when he entered the post office well before his 7 a.m. start time for work.



After hearing Dempsey say, "What the hell?" Stewart shot his supervisor, the affidavit said. One worker said the first shot struck Dempsey in the shoulder. Stewart fired a second shot once Dempsey toppled to the floor, witnesses told police. Panicked postal workers ran as the shooting unfolded, police said.



Stewart was facing discipline for unspecified workplace violations at the post office, Dublin Police Lt. Steve Farmer said. Stewart appears to have no prior criminal record in Franklin County.



Dempsey, who lived in Lewis Center in Delaware County, was pronounced dead at the scene at the post office. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was assisting Dublin police.



The post office was not open to the public when the shooting occurred and remained closed Saturday.



In a statement he issued with Columbus one homicide away from tying the all-time death record, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said: "I am deeply saddened and angered at the most recent homicide in our city. At a time when many gather together to celebrate new beginnings, yet another family must struggle with a heartbreaking loss. We must guard against treating this loss of human life as a mere statistic. This homicide is just as tragic as the first one of 2017."



Ginther said the city is taking steps to lessen violence, but noted half of the city's homicides this year remain unsolved. "We must share in the pain and grief, but more importantly, the responsibility to hold those responsible accountable. We cannot remain silent as those intent on destroying life continue to terrorize our neighborhoods," he said.



The U.S. Post Inspection Service offered a brief statement: "Because this tragic matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Postal Inspection Service and local law enforcement, we are not yet in a position to provide details concerning the incidents," said Kathryn Woliung, spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The U.S. attorney's office will later provide additional information, she said.