A postal union president is remembering the 28-year-old woman fatally shot in Orland Park last week as a hard worker.
Elise Foster, president of Branch 11 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said Mechellea Williams was good at her job as a letter carrier.
“She was a hard worker. She loved her job and her coworkers. She was an excellent carrier,” Foster said.
Kowanna Williams, center, is comforted by her son, Malik Williams, while attending a balloon release to celebrate the life of her daughter, Mechellea Williams, a post office worker who was killed in an Orland Park shooting. (Vincent Alban/Chicago Tribune)
The union held a balloon release Saturday for Williams, who was a postal worker for eight months at the Fort Dearborn-Chestnut post office at 540 Dearborn St., in Chicago, Foster said.
Williams was found shot inside a car at 12:03 a.m. in the 170th block of Redbud Lane, Orland Park police said. Police did not respond to requests for comment on updates to the investigation Thursday.
An autopsy Thursday found Williams died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which ruled her death a homicide.
“It was a tragedy,” Foster said.
Orland Park police Cmdr. Ken Rosinski said Tuesday police had no updates in the investigation.
Williams, affectionately known as Precious, leaves behind three sons ages 10, 6 and 10 months, according to a GoFundMe page created by her family.
“Mechellea embodied love, life, happiness and family,” the family wrote on the GoFundMe page.
The fundraising page’s goal is to raise $20,000 for funeral costs and providing care for her children. It had raised $5,913 as of Tuesday afternoon.
akukulka@chicagotribune.com
