No justice for Justin? Family of Fred Meyer shooting victim fears outcome of hearing
Justin Krumbah’s tearful family and friends gathered Wednesday outside the Richland Fred Meyer to honor his memory on the anniversary of his slaying.
“Year two, here we start without Justin. It’s still not the same,” his sister Krista Schaaf told the group of about 20 who gathered around a memorial plaque.
They said Krumbah, 38, was a good-hearted son and brother who loved baking and cars and was enjoying his relatively new job filling grocery orders for Instacart when he was shot by a man he didn’t know.
They showed a photo of him dressed in a Seahawks apron that later became what he wore to work.
They said he loved the apron’s pockets and would often have a string of plastic produce bags danging from them.
Wednesday, as his relatives and friends were honoring his memory, they also were worried about an upcoming court hearing for his accused murderer.
Family members say they believe Aaron C. Kelly, 41, will soon be found innocent by reason of insanity. They’re frustrated he then would be confined to Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, rather than sent to prison.
They feel Kelly’s actions were too calculated, that Kelly looked up after the shooting how to escape to Mexico, took off his car’s front license plate, used mud to obscure his rear license plate and drove on back roads to get out of the Tri-Cities.
But this week a third psychological report concluded that Kelly didn’t have the ability to understand the “nature and quality of his actions.”
Kelly, who suffers from schizophrenia, is due back in Benton County Superior Court next week for another hearing on the issue.
“We’ll find out if his murderer basically gets to walk,” Schaaf said. “So Justin will not be given the justice that we all hoped for.”
Kelly is charged with first-degree murder, as well as the attempted murder of Mark Hill, a Fred Meyer employee who was wounded but survived.
Hill was among those who gathered Wednesday near the marker outside the sprawling store. He said he still doesn’t understand why Kelly was allowed to have guns because of his previous mental health troubles.
Wendi Wachsmuth, a forensic psychologist, is the latest person to weigh in on Kelly’s mental state.
Prosecutors sought the second opinion from the independent expert after Washington state psychologists Jessica Hart and Richard Yocum previously came to the same conclusion.
While the three have said Kelly wasn’t sane at the time of the shooting, they also say it would be dangerous to allow him to go free without more treatment.
Defense expert, Daniel Lord-Flynn, also testified in February 2023 that Kelly believes there is an “entity” made up of shadowy government organizations that is influencing events around him.
Kelly has been in and out of psychiatric care since his arrest 12 hours after the shooting.
2022 shooting
Store security video shows Kelly entered the store at 11:01 a.m. on Feb. 7, 2022.
He was pushing a shopping cart that held a duffle bag and a backpack but he didn’t pick up any store items for his cart.
Two minutes later, Kelly and Krumbah passed each other on Aisle 14 and appeared to have a quick conversation. There is no audio of the exchange, but Krumbah went back to selecting items from shelves to fill customer orders, said investigators.
Kelly, however, pulled out a handgun and shot Krumbah multiple times. Kelly then fired several more times at Krumbah on the floor before walking away.
As Kelly passed the customer service desk near the exit, he also shot Hill, court documents said.
Kelly reportedly spoke with another person, then wandered around briefly before exiting.
Inside, panicked customers and store employees scrambled for cover and called 911.
Kelly was arrested 12 hours later driving his Honda north on Interstate 90.
This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 7:22 PM.