She was in a Longview, WA city park.
WA law allows for unlicensed, loaded, OC or CC while "participating in, going to, or coming from, any outdoor recreational activity...(RCW 9.41.060(8). A walk in the park is an outdoor recreational activity....BTW: This is a great exception to the general prohibition on loaded CC without a CPL. (RCW 9.41.050)
Loaded Unlicensed OC while on foot is always legal, however, unless you meet an exception in RCW 9.41.060 it cannot have a Loaded firearm in a vehicle without a CPL.
So, as she was participating in a legal outdoor recreational activity, even if she did not have a CPL, she was perfectly legal to carry loaded, CC or OC.
Two possible sources of her reason to carry unloaded. She does not have a CPL and does not know the exception in RCW 9.41.060(8). She lives very close to, and possibly works in, Portland, OR, where, if you do not have an OR CHL, and you have a loaded concealed weapon....you can go to jail. Portland, unlike most of OR, also has a city prohibition against unlicensed loaded OC. Being in Longview, most of here TV news is probably from Portland, and Portland likes to portray any carry (except by their thugs and cops) as evil.