Co-workers never saw shooting attack coming

Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 27, 2006 at midnight

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Debbie Richmeier, 45, said she and her co-workers never saw Michael Ford's rampage coming.

Ford arrived at work like he normally did and sat at a table across from Richmeier in his usual place after exchanging greetings with other employees Sunday, Richmeier said.

She remained stunned Monday that moments after they had traded hellos, Ford ran amok.

"One minute, he says, 'Hi, how are you?' and then one minute later he's apparently deciding which one of us dudes he's going to shoot," Richmeier said. "We could have never seen this coming from him in particular."

She described Ford as a quiet worker who "goes about his business."

"He struggled with his production, but we can all struggle with our production," Richmeier said.

Because of the upcoming Independence Day holiday, the employees at the distribution center needed to increase their production level for many of the stores they serve. While she said she appreciates her job at Safeway, Richmeier said the atmosphere and the fast pace are not for the faint of heart.

"We're all very hard workers," Richmeier said. "It's a hard environment, and Safeway holds us to a pretty strict production level."

She said many workers on her shift expected to be off Monday because of Sunday's events but were called in to work.

Richmeier said she fled the building when she saw one of the shooting victims, Oscar Martinez, running to his truck and telling others to get out.

Martinez's co-workers learned later that he was hit in the elbow by a bullet.

While detectives and co-workers try to find a motive for the rampage, Richmeier dismissed any suggestion that other employees poked fun at the assailant's religion.

"The group of people he shot, we did not know Michael Ford was any (certain religion)," she said. "Nobody knew he had switched to Muslim. Nobody would have cared."

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