RICHLAND, WA – Fred Meyer in Richland is now open following the deadly shooting on Monday, February 8, 2022. That shooting killed Justin Krumbach and injured Mark Hill, an employee at the store.
The Lead Assistant Store Manager of Fred Meyer said the community has brought gifts and a warm welcome to the store staff.
“The support of the community was overwhelming, it was awesome to get back open they were super excited to get back open” said Gustavo Valladares the lead assistant store manager of Fred Meyer in Richland.
Now with business in full swing, there are a few changes shoppers might notice.
“As you can see we no longer have isle 14, we go from one through 13 and move down,” said Valladares. “After that, we’ve added an armed security from opening to close and actually an hour after closing as well.”
Employees seem to be liking the new changes saying it helps them feel safer.
“Just knowing if something does happen, they’ll be there and we don’t have to wait for the actual police to come in,” said Valladares. “Personally, for me, I feel safer coming in because they’re out there, they’re walking around and it deters people from hopefully doing those acts again.”
The store is also providing counseling for any employee that wants it.
“Right now we have counseling onsite for a week, for this current week,” said Valladares. “We had them available the day after the incident happened. Yeah, they’re available from now until the end of time.”
200 of the 280 employees have come back to work and Gustavo said that having things go back to normal is helping them heal from the tragedy.
Updated on the survivor of the Fred Meyer Shooting:
Find out more about the suspected shooter:
