Boulder marks anniversary of deadly King Soopers shooting

BOULDER -- A year after a gunman entered Boulder’s south-end King Soopers and killed 10 people, the day has burrowed irreversibly into people’s memories.

On Tuesday, the city has declared March 22 a Day of Remembrance and people remembered shopping in the store or where they were when they heard the news. Congress has renamed the downtown post office after Eric Talley, the police officer killed in the shooting.

As the Boulder community gathered to mark the anniversary, the blustery afternoon weather echoed the gray chill that enveloped March 22, 2021.

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“In many ways, it hits home that this is a cold spring day. It’s cold because for all of us, there’s loss in our heart,” said Gov. Jared Polis during a community memorial Tuesday afternoon.

He acknowledged the way that mass shootings shatter the safety of everyday places: How nine civilians died simply because they decided to pick up groceries on that Monday afternoon a year ago, and how a police officer was shot down moments after he charged into the store.

The people killed in the massacre along with Officer Talley were Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Teri Leiker, 51; Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, 51; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.

Ten small white trees strung with lights twinkled on the stage of the Glen Huntington Bandshell in Central Park, where the community remembrance was held. And a flag-draped patrol car with flowers dripping from the hood sat outside the Boulder Police Department in tribute to Talley — one of the first officers to respond to the shooting — where the department held a fallen officer memorial earlier Tuesday.

A string of rosary beads – Talley was Catholic -- hung on his department photo next to the car.

“He ran towards gunfire and entered the store," noted District Attorney Michael Dougherty. "Based on the 911 calls, he had reason to believe that he was outnumbered and outgunned, but he and his fellow officers never hesitated and immediately charged in to save the lives of Boulder’s community members.” 

Susan Gilmore has come to the Boulder courthouse on the days of each hearing in the case of the man accused in the shooting. She worries that people have returned to their everyday lives, and wants the victims’ families to know she hasn't forgotten them.

“I want to continue to make sure … that they know they are loved and that they matter, and that law enforcement matters,” Gilmore said.

Her 10-year-old son, Gil, wants to be a police officer, and he made a video with a message of support for Boulder police, knowing the anniversary would be a tough day for them.

At Talley’s commemoration, Gilmore and her son stood behind a formation of police officers waving small flags.

Polis remembered kneeling for a few moments at the memorial that sprang up in the days after the shooting on the chain-link fence set up to preserve the crime scene, and he attended many of the victims’ funerals.

“In many ways, those funerals were just a cross-section of any of us and all of us. The lives lived; the lives of those who were young that they never got to live.”

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Boulder resident Carrie McIlvaine, who has lived there for 20 years, has spent time getting to know employees at the King Soopers stores on Table Mesa and in Gunbarrel when she shops and visits the pharmacy each week. Even though the shooting has given her some lingering anxiety about the stores, going back to King Soopers and not being afraid to go out has helped her process the trauma.

McIlvaine said it was nice to see community members attend Tuesday’s memorial at the Bandshell.

“The community hasn’t lost its love. It hasn’t lost its togetherness,” she said.

County Commissioner Claire Levy has early memories of picking up baby photos of her oldest child at the King Soopers in 1989 and immediately tearing open the packets. When her daughter reached toddler age, Levy remembers her charming the deli worker for samples of cheese.

“So many of my memories and milestones include that store,” she said.

The public officials at Tuesday’s memorials also included Boulder City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde Police Chief Maris Herold,and U..S. Reps. Joe Neguse and Jason Crow.

State legislators from Boulder, including Senate President Steve Fenberg, Representative Judy Amabile, Representative Edie Hooton, and Representative Matt Gray sent a statement Tuesday:

“One year ago, the Boulder community suffered a devastating tragedy when a gunman brutally cut short ten innocent lives. Today, our hearts remain heavy for the families of the victims, and for the entire Boulder community. But faced with tragedy, our community has emerged stronger and more resilient than before. We have been profoundly moved by the myriad ways Boulder County has come together to honor the victims of this tragedy and support their families and one another.”

The Rev. Daniel Nolan, Talley’s family pastor, said the 10 deaths should remind people to reflect on how they want to spend the time they have left. Few people wish they had made more money or spent more time at the office, he said.

“If they could have been given one more year, how would they have used it?” he said. 

“What will you wish you had done? Who will you want to have forgiven? If you have any words you want to say to somebody, say them.”

Levy didn’t shy away from gun policy in her speech. She said she’s proud Boulder is known as a place that “doesn’t welcome” guns like the semi-automatic pistol the accused shooter used in the massacre.

“Hooray that we gave our kids the freedom to take the Skip to King Soopers after work, after school, and hang out. And that we didn’t instill in them the fearfulness that leads people to arm themselves against their neighbors,” she said.

“Can we return to that innocence? No, we can’t. Because we are in this world, and we are of this world.”

Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett said the names of the victims will be read each year on March 22 to make sure they aren’t forgotten. When a person’s name is spoken for the last time, it’s like they have died all over again, he said.

“Let us never allow this third death of our 10 fallen neighbors.”