Fort Wayne Amazon center remains closed after employee death
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An Amazon fulfillment center in Fort Wayne remained closed on Wednesday after an employee was fatally injured on Monday. Our partners at WPTA-TV report employees held a lantern memorial Tuesday night honoring their fellow employee.
The Allen County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 20-year-old Caes David Gruesbeck of Fort Wayne. The cause of death was blunt force injury and Gruesbeck’s death has been ruled an accident.
Specific details of what caused the incident have not been released.
Carter Amos, who works at the fulfillment center, told WPTA he has had difficulty processing the incident, saying it has been harder to think that it could’ve been him in that situation.
“You always think about that, you know, it could be me or it wouldn’t be me kind of thing or you kind of think it would never be you,” Amos said. “Then you see it happen to someone else and the realization kind of sinks in of like that could be you.”
Amos said he hopes the lantern memorial serves as a show of support to the victim’s family.
“I want to show them, they’re not the only ones hurting,” Amos said. “They’re probably hurting a lot worse than everyone else, but we really do care, and we love everybody out here at Amazon like a family.”
Employees were notified Tuesday night that the facility would remain closed on Wednesday for the day shift. It’s not clear if it will open back up for the night shift.
The Amazon Fulfillment Center is located near Fort Wane International Airport. The facility opened in late 2021.