Friends, family attend vigil for delivery driver

Smells of tomato sauce and baking crust drifted over the friends, family and strangers waiting in the Pizza X South parking lot Monday to order pizza and remember murdered delivery driver Adam Sarnecki.

The line snaked around the lot during the candle light vigil honoring the driver who was shot and killed early Friday after returning from a delivery. One hundred percent of sales made during the vigil were to be donated to Sarnecki’s young family.

“When you hear of a tragedy like that, you do anything you can to help,” Bloomington resident Ashley Hayworth said. “Plus, it’s a Monday night, and I don’t want
to cook.”

She said she had always thought of Bloomington as a safe community but has started questioning that sentiment.

“I have two kids at home, and I tuck them in extra tight at night,” Hayworth said. “I don’t know if it’s the media spreading the news faster or if Bloomington is becoming a violent place.”

Behind the store, Pizza X driver Tim Nelson, who normally works at the campus store, was unloading trays of dough from his car. He described the night as “off-the-hook busy.”

He had just returned from his 15th delivery run of the night. On a normal night, Nelson said, he would have completed less than 10 delivery runs in the same amount of time. He was three hours into his shift, which ended at 3 a.m. today.

“I get a lot of people telling us to be careful, which is kind of redundant,” he said. “I get a lot of people saying they’re sorry and saying it’s cool we’re donating the proceeds.”

On the grass hill between the Pizza X parking lot and Walnut Street, Bloomington resident Eva Luttrell, who lives up the street from the store, held a candle in memory of Sarnecki.

Her brother works for the Pizza X, and her sister is a former employee. She said a lot of her friends are Pizza X delivery drivers.

“The fact that it could’ve been one of them, it just makes me incredibly sad,” she said.
Luttrell’s sister had come to the vigil with her but ended up working in the store for about an hour after stopping in to chat with old coworkers.

“She said her hands were red from holding the phone for 45 minutes straight,” Luttrell said.

Sarnecki’s fiancee Tiffany Josh walked to the middle of the crowd waiting to pick up their orders. Josh and Sarnecki have a 3-month-old son together.

Tearfully, she thanked everyone for coming and showing their support.

“There’s no words that I can say to let you guys know how much I appreciate everything,” Josh said, specifically thanking the Bloomington Police Department.

Earlier in the day, police arrested the man suspected of killing her fiancee.

Pizza X South will continue donating 100 percent of its sales today and Wednesday to a fund in Sarnecki’s name.

“He was just a wonderful man, a great son and a great father,” she said.