Officers, neighbors keep watch over fallen officer's family

GRAHAM, Pierce County — It's the little things that matter most right now, small kindnesses to help fill a void.

In the days since Gregory Richards, 42, was gunned down in a local coffee shop, officers from the Kent Police Department, where Richards began his law-enforcement career, have been outside his house in a patrol car. They work six-hour shifts on their own time, around the clock, so that his widow and three kids won't feel alone.

"It is a constant vigil," said Melanie Burwell, Richards' sister-in-law. "It's that sense of support, a salute to Greg. It lifts her that tiny bit," she said of Kelly, Richards' widow.

Volunteers from the local fire department in Graham turned out Tuesday, with some 15 firefighters and their spouses spending the day decorating the Richards' home for Christmas. They were up on the roof, putting up lights. Tying velvet bows on the garage, and on the front porch. Raising a Christmas tree on the front lawn.

A firefighter brought a second tree for the house, poking fresh and green out of his red pickup.

Neighbors arrived all the while in a steady stream up the front walk, bringing cards that were filling a basket with condolences. A steadily growing collection of flower arrangements, with pictures of Richards tucked amid the blooms, was taking shape as a memorial display on the front lawn.

A neighborhood restaurant sent enough food for a banquet. New pet beds were even given for the family dogs.

As night fell and the moon sailed full and bright in the sky, the Christmas lights glowed — and the guys from Graham Fire and Rescue arrived in the ladder truck — just for the kids, to give them a spin around the neighborhood to lift their spirits. The truck, all lights and siren and shining red paint, brightened what might otherwise have been a too-quiet night.

More neighbors stopped by as they came home from work, gathering in the yard to share stories, hugs and support.

A sign by the side of the road reminds the family every time they come and go: "To the Richards Family As a Community Neighbors and Friends our Hearts and Prayers are With You." The American flag at the entrance to the development flies at half-staff; Dwayne Good, head of the neighborhood association, saw to that as soon as he heard the news Sunday.

Like others here, Good felt not only grief and shock, but a sense of being robbed. The Richards family had moved here recently, just over a year ago. But they had worked hard at becoming part of the community.

This neighborhood is cul-de-sac America, with perfect lawns, and people who take pride and pleasure in taking care of them — and each other.

"He was someone you could count on to help with anything," Good said. remembering Richards and his wife arriving to help shovel yard after yard of beauty bark to neaten the development's common grounds.

Next-door neighbor John Brewer enjoyed sending his kids over to wear themselves out on the Richardses' trampoline.

"He was starting to be a pretty good friend," Brewer said. "We'd stand on the street talking, enjoying the weather, watching Mount Rainier change from orange to blue to black — he was just an asset to the neighborhood.

"He was someone people would go to for advice; he has three kids, he's a police officer, he had seen a lot of life. I thought, when my kids are in junior high, I'll be talking to him and my dad. You realize just how much was taken from the family, the friends, the community. It's one more voice we won't have to turn to."

Richards had so many projects: A gazebo in the back yard. Tearing out grass, and putting in a concrete parking area for his police cruiser. "He just finished that," said neighbor Stu Wheeler, who enjoyed sharing with Richards about the best grass seed for the lawn, how to get rid of all the stones in their rocky soil at the local gravel pit for free — the day-to-day things neighbors talk about.

Wheeler was putting Christmas lights on his house Sunday when he heard the news. By Tuesday, he said he still hadn't been able to bring himself to light them. "It just didn't feel right."

Long after next Tuesday's memorial service has come and gone, the people here will still be there for the family, said neighbor Cary Bertram as he watched the ladder truck take the kids around the cul-de-sac.

"This neighborhood has turned out," Bertram said. "And as long as they are living here, our eyes will be on that home."