INDIANAPOLIS — Less than a week ago, eight people were senselessly gunned down at the FedEx Ground in Indianapolis. Now, employees are returning to work, some as early as Monday, and throughout the rest of the week.
Breanna Norwood is one of them. She was back on her overnight by Monday night.
Norwood said she has only worked at the facility for about a month. Last Thursday, she was set to arrive a little earlier than her normal time.
"Thursday was actually the first day I was set to go in earlier, but I was running behind," she said.
When she drove into the parking lot, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She left her phone in her car, per FedEx policy, and began walking towards the building when her Apple watch buzzed.
"My friend sent me a tweet and someone had said there was an active shooter there," Norwood said.
Norwood added she now wonders if she had arrived just minutes earlier, if she would have been inside during the shooting.
According to experts, the replaying of circumstances and timelines is not out of the ordinary.
Dr. Dean Kilpatrick, Director of the National Mass Violence Victimization Resource Center said many workers may also feel a sense of survivors guilt and some may still be in a period of shock.
"You're trying to make sense of it, because if you can make sense of it that gives you more control,” Kilpatrick said.
"It takes a little while for people to sort out if natural recovery is going to happen or if it's going to be something that is a sufficient problem that you don't get over,” Kimble Richardson, a licensed mental health counselor at Community Health Network said.
An easy way to find help is by calling 211. NMVVRC has also released an app called Transcend that provides resources to those touched by mass violence.
"Indianapolis joined a club that nobody wants to belong to and that is people and communities that have been impacted by mass violence,” Kilpatrick said.
Norwood said when she returned to work on Monday night it sort of felt like nothing had happened. But she personally was very aware of the area she was walking into and will be every time she goes in to work.
"Where it happened is where everyone has to go through just to even go to work. I have to cross that actual place where someone lost their life,” Norwood said.
