04 Oct Family Seeks Answers After Fatal Accident at Richmond UPS Warehouse

Blanca Estela Guerrero, from left, Aldo Icazbalceta and Yami Guerrero are family members of Shelma Reyna, the Richmond mother who was killed while working at a UPS warehouse.

Story and photos by Denis Perez-Bravo

Shelma Reyna was counting her blessings. After years of juggling multiple jobs, the 43-year-old mother of five had finally landed what she believed could become a full-time, stable position at UPS in Richmond.

“Mom, I have a job interview,” Reyna told her mother, Blanca Estela Guerrero, during one of their regular phone calls between California and Monterrey, Mexico. “It’s a company where I’ll be better off. There are a lot of benefits.”

On Sept. 21, Reyna died on the job.

She was loading packages into a cargo trailer from a conveyor belt at the UPS facility on Atlas Road when, according to the Richmond Police Department, several packages fell on her while she was alone inside the trailer. A co-worker later discovered her injured, and despite life-saving efforts by first responders, she died at the scene.

Now, her family is demanding accountability from UPS and waiting on results from ongoing investigations of the incident.

“I just want the truth to come out from UPS, and I would love if the entire community can press that company to take accountability for what happened,” said her eldest son, Aldo Icazbalceta, 24, who has assumed responsibility for his four younger brothers. “They had one responsibility: Take care of your workers while they’re there.”

The Teamsters union confirmed that Reyna was a part-time worker represented by Teamsters Local 315 of Martinez. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters expressed condolences in a statement, with General President Sean M. O’Brien saying, “All Teamsters at UPS, including and especially our part-timers, are critical to the movement and success of this company.”

Alberto Ruiz, president of Local 315, said the union is “diligently working with Cal/OSHA and the Sheriff’s Department to find out the true cause of this incident.”

A Single Mother of 5

For those who knew Reyna, the tragedy represents not just a workplace accident but the loss of a woman who embodied resilience, generosity and tremendous devotion to those she saw as family.

“She was a very humble, funny, characteristic person. She always cared about her kids,” said Aldo, one of her children. “Her kids were always No. 1.”

Reyna emigrated from Mexico to Richmond about 20 years ago with young Aldo to join her then-husband, Juan Icazbalceta, in California. She had studied tourism at the Álvaro Obregón School in Mexico and worked alongside her mother in stores before making the journey north.

After separating from Juan, Reyna continued raising her two sons in Richmond before meeting the man who would become the father of her three youngest children. That relationship ended after what the family described as years of domestic abuse. In 2019, she was granted a restraining order against him that lasted until 2022.

“Honey, you have so many kids now,” Guerrero remembers telling her daughter.

“It doesn’t matter, Mom,” Guerrero said Reyna replied. “I’m going to be able to handle them. Just like you were able to handle us and you got us all through — I can too. It’s the example that you’ve given me.”

‘This Christmas, I’m Going to Be With You’

Guerrero, also a single parent, had been planning to retire and move to California to help care for her grandchildren.

“I was thinking of telling her, ‘This Christmas, I’m going to be with you,'” Guerrero said, her voice breaking.

Those plans were shattered by the September accident.

‘Talking to Her Made My Day’

Reyna’s neighbor and best friend, Martha Espinoza, said mornings often began with Reyna stopping by her home.

“She was always in a good mood,” Espinoza said. Despite her hardworking nature, she was not a morning person, which is why Espinoza called her “Sleeping Beauty.”

Espinoza, both a mother herself and the caretaker of her own mother, looked to Reyna as a sister.

Their time was spent talking about life and family and making jokes.

“Talking to her made my day,” Espinoza said.

In their talks, Reyna dreamed of being financially stable enough to support her kids and return to school to study nursing. She also talked about the plans she had to buy a house with the help of Aldo.

Reyna had viewed her UPS position as more than employment — it was a stepping stone toward a better future.

‘Someone With a Really Big Heart’

Esmeraldo Ocampo, 26, Espinoza’s daughter, saw Reyna as family, much like her mother did, and thought of her like an aunt.

“It takes someone with a really big heart to be like, OK, well they’re not family, but we have each other’s back,” Ocampo said. “Not a lot of people are like that.”

Ocampo first met Reyna when she was 8 years old. When Ocampo’s grandmother fell seriously ill and became bedridden around 2011, Reyna stepped in to help, dropping Ocampo off at school, picking her up and preparing meals while Ocampo’s mother worked.

She smiles when recalling some of Reyna’s traditions, like at Christmastime when Reyna would place gifts in cereal boxes, wrap them and hand them out.

“She’d be like, ‘Well, it’s a box. You’re going to rip it anyway,'” Ocampo said.

‘All of This Could Have Been Avoided’

But Ocampo’s happy memories of her acquired aunt also fuel anger over what she believes were preventable circumstances.

“All of this could have been avoided if they would have kept up with maintenance and policy, protocol and everything,” Ocampo said. “I just don’t want future people to get hurt anymore.”

UPS has stated it is deeply saddened by her death and that its thoughts are with the family.

“We are cooperating fully with the authorities to understand what happened,” the statement read.

But Reyna’s son Aldo finds no comfort in that message, saying no one representing UPS has contacted them directly. The only agency that has reached out has been Teamsters Local 315, which he said has been very helpful.

Vigil Planned in Richmond

A candlelight vigil is planned for Shelma on Sunday, Oct. 5, from 7-7:30 pm at the UPS North Bay parking lot at 1601 Atlas Road in Richmond organized by the Teamster Local 315.

“Not only is this an honor, but this will start the fight for justice for my mother,” Aldo said in a post about the event.

The family has established a GoFundMe to help with expenses and is asking anyone with information about workplace conditions at the Richmond UPS facility to come forward.