Fateful words before horror at Amazon site
A Navy vet who tried to warn his co-workers and a single mother with a young son were among the six people killed when a tornado collapsed the Amazon warehouse in Illinois where they worked, officials and their grieving relatives confirmed Sunday.
Etheria S. Hebb, 34, a delivery driver from St. Louis, was identified as one of the workers killed at the Edwardsville facility when both sides of the building caved inward and the roof fell down on Friday evening.
“She was the most sweetest, kindest person ever. She was such a beautiful soul,” her sister, Tiara Hebb, told The Post.
Relatives said Etheria was a single mother to year-old son Malik.
“She was a wonderful mother,” Tiara said.
Officials in Edwardsville on Sunday identified the other victims as Deandre Morrow, 28, of St. Louis; Kevin D. Dickey, 62, of Carlyle, Ill.; Clayton Lynn Cope, 29, of Alton, Ill.; Larry E. Virden, 46, of Collinsville, Ill.; and Austin J. McEwen, 26, of Edwardsville, Ill.
Cope, a six-year Navy vet, spoke to his mother shortly before the tornado struck, and he spoke of informing his co-workers about the incoming twister, his mother told CNN.
Cope’s cousin, Jacqueline Cope, 38, remembered him as “a very special person.”
“He was trying to alert more people about the storm,” she told The Post.
Virden’s family said that he was an Army Veteran who had just started as an Amazon delivery driver a few months ago.
Cherie Jones, Virden’s longtime girlfriend, said that the final text message that she received from him was about the storm, roughly 20 minutes before it hit. He told her Amazon wouldn’t let him go home until the storm passed.
“I got text messages from him,” Jones continued. “He always tells me when he is filling up the Amazon truck when he is getting ready to go back . . . I was like, ‘OK, I love you.’ He’s like, ‘Well, Amazon won’t let me leave until after the storm blows over,’ ” she told The Post.
“We heard the tornado didn’t touch down until 8:39, so he had 20 minutes to get home,” she said.
Jones said the couple had three children together, ages 9, 10, and 12. Virden had a grandchild and other children as well.
Amazon said it employs about 190 workers at the facility, but the company was unable to determine how many workers were in the facility since the tornado struck during a shift change and drivers come and go.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted by the tornado,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “We’re continuing to support our employees and partners in the area.”