ST JOHN, Mo. — The Kinloch firefighter who was shot inside a St. Louis County Applebee’s in June will receive a hero’s welcome home Monday.
Arlydia Bufford will be released from a rehabilitation center Monday morning.
The discharge date also happens to line up with a previously scheduled parade of fire trucks, fire chiefs and EMS vehicles from around the St. Louis County area. Emergency responders with Bufford’s Kinloch Fire Protection District also will escort her home.
“Arlydia has made tremendous improvements over the last several weeks and has even started studying her EMT material again,” the fire district wrote in a news release Friday.
Bufford, who is 20 years old, joined the department late last year, completed the cadet program and was sown in as a Kinloch firefighter in January. She was taking an in-house EMT program “to better serve the community as a licensed EMT,” the fire district said previously.
The night of June 22, Bufford was out to dinner with a coworker at the St. John Applebee’s after finishing up some training when a gunman shot Bufford and two other women inside the restaurant. One of the women died at the scene and the other was shot but is expected to recover.
Kinloch fire officials said they are hopeful Bufford can continue her studies once she is fully recovered.
“She is walking and talking, and we are hoping for her full return to duty within six months to a year,” the department said in the release.
Bufford spent about a month in the hospital and was released to a rehab center in July for physical therapy.
“We want to thank everyone for all of the thoughts and prayers, they have worked!!” the department added.
Anyone who would like to send their well wishes to Bufford can mail a card to the Kinloch Fire Protection District at the address below.
Cards for Arlydia
C/O Kinloch Fire Protection District
5684 Martin Luther King Blvd
Kinloch, MO 63140