TUNKHANNOCK, Pa. (AP) – Extensive repairs and a thorough cleaning have removed the physical traces of a mass shooting inside a Pennsylvania supermarket, but it’ll take more than a makeover to erase shoppers’ memories of what happened in the aisles.
The Weis Markets Inc. store in rural Tunkhannock, about 135 miles northwest of Philadelphia, is scheduled to reopen this week, more than a month after it was turned into a triple-murder scene by a 24-year-old gunman who had expressed violent and suicidal thoughts online.
The regional supermarket chain is planning a low-key 6 a.m. Thursday reopening of the store, with no public ceremony, though there will be a private event for employees.
But people in this small town are still talking about it, and opinions are divided over whether the store should have been torn down. The family of at least one victim wants it gone, saying the building holds too many painful memories.
Judy Nulton, of Tunkhannock, who was shopping at a Walmart down the street, said she’d avoid Weis because of the shooting.