A River Valley woman shot and killed on the job at an Arkansas Welcome Center one year ago was honored Wednesday (May 1).
Friends and family came together to pay tribute to Sharren Richards.
Richards, who worked as an attendant at the Arkansas Welcome Center along Interstate 40 in Van Buren, was collecting trash around 6:30 in the morning on May 1, 2012. Authorities said she walked around the side of the building, where she noticed a car parked in an odd location. Richards then approached the car. That's where she was shot in the neck by Patricia McClure-Hajek, according to police. Richards was pronounced dead at the scene.
"Our family has yet to get over it," Richards' sister, Lena Gurney, said. "There's not a day that goes by that we don't grieve for her."
A plaque was placed at the rest stop in Richards' honor.
"It meant a lot to us today because we know it meant that Sharon has done something that she always wanted to do," Richards' brother, Lawrence, said.
Richards' family told 5NEWS they're still trying to come to terms with her sudden loss.
"It's hard to deal with it," Richards' brother, Clarence, said. "It was so sudden and we're never going to understand why it happened or anything but the good Lord knows why."
"She was a very special sister," Lawrence Richards' said. "She always was there to take care of any body that needed help. And that was her life, her story."
McClure-Hajek is being held at the Crawford County Detention Center on a first degree murder charge for Richards' death. A trial date has not been set.