Here Are The Victims Of The Boulder, Colorado, Shooting

The people killed at the King Soopers supermarket ranged in age from 20 to 65. Here are their stories.

A police officer and father of seven children. Three supermarket employees working a Monday afternoon shift. A man who had only recently walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. These people were among the 10 killed in a shooting at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday.

On Tuesday, police said those killed ranged in age from 20 to 65 years old. A 21-year-old man was arrested at the scene and has been charged with 10 counts of murder.

Here are the stories of the lives lost.

Eric Talley, 51

Eric Talley wears his uniform in an official photo

Officer Eric Talley was one of the first officers to respond to the scene after a man began shooting. Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold called Talley’s actions “heroic.”

Talley joined the Boulder Police Department in 2010, and as the father of seven children, was worried about his safety on the job. His father, Homer Talley, released a statement to Denver7 noting that his son was learning to be a drone operator because “he was looking for a job to keep himself off of the front lines” and “didn’t want to put his family through something like this.”

“He took his job as a police officer very seriously,” his father said.

His sister Kirstin posted a photo of them as children on Twitter, paying tribute to “my big brother.”

“My heart is broken,” she wrote. “I cannot explain how beautiful he was and what a devastating loss this is to so many. Fly high my sweet brother. You always wanted to be a pilot (damn color blindness). Soar.”

Officer Eric Talley is my big brother. He died today in the Boulder shooting. My heart is broken. I cannot explain how beautiful he was and what a devastating loss this is to so many. Fly high my sweet brother. You always wanted to be a pilot (damn color blindness). Soar.

Twitter: @roozersmom

Herold, the police chief, recounted that Talley and his children had been in her office recently because one had been given a community award after saving the life of a child who had swallowed a quarter, using CPR skills that Talley had taught.

“He’s a very kind man and he didn't have to go into policing. He had a profession before this,” Herold said. “But he felt a higher calling and he loved this community… He was willing to die to protect others.”

Rikki Olds, 25

a young white woman with a nose and cheek piercing smiles at the camera

“Rikki baby, you were taken too soon. I miss you dearly,” Rikki Olds’s partner, Jordan Arthur, posted, along with a photo of the two together beaming, the ends of her blonde hair dyed blue.

Olds, a 25-year-old from Lafayette, Colorado, was one of the King Soopers employees killed in the attack.

"She had dreams, she had ambitions, she was moving up the ladder at King Soopers and now she can't do those things," said her uncle Robert Olds, at press conference on Wednesday.

A former colleague paid tribute on Facebook to her work ethic. "Rikki was sweet, always busy, and a great assistant manager — she had a bright future ahead of her, for sure," wrote Kathy Patterson.

Others also shared about her happy nature. “She had the most bubbly personality and absolutely refused to let anyone knock her down,” wrote Lance Cox-Balazs on Facebook. “Her mood was always so contagious it helped bring me out of some low points in high school and she never failed helping anyone else smile without even trying.”

Her uncle spoke about how Olds always turned up with different colored hair and new tattoos, didn't care if people judged her for being different and would regularly laugh so hard she snorted. "Rikki lived life on her own terms," he said. "She was a strong independent young woman."

Denny Stong, 20

The youngest victim of the shooting, Denny Stong, had worked at King Soopers since 2018.

Amid the pandemic, his Facebook profile photo was emblazoned with the words “I cant stay home, I am a Grocery Store Worker.”

He loved “planes, bikes, motorcycles,” according to his Facebook, and posted numerous photos of them. According to the mother of one of his close friends, Stong was studying to be a pilot.

A former colleague who also works for an airline confirmed his pilot dreams. "He was a student pilot and would seek me out to 'talk shop'," wrote Kathy Patterson on Facebook. "We had many conversations about airplanes and flying. He was a hard working, sweet kid!

“Denny, I want you to know I’ll always hate you but love you brother,” wrote his King Soopers colleague and friend Logan Ezra on Facebook.

“Your annoying rude ass was hard to manage at times, but you were one of my greatest friends I’ve ever had,” wrote Ezra. “You pushed my buttons at times and made me grow. You taught me many lessons and brought me many memories.”

Teri Leiker, 51

Teri Leiker, a third employee of King Soopers who was killed doing her job, had worked at the store for over 30 years, “and it was her favorite thing to do,” according to a powerful tribute from friend Lexi Knutson.

Knutson described Leiker as “the most innocent, caring, and loving individual that the world held.”

The pair first met at the University of Colorado Best Buddies program in 2017, an initiative to connect students with locals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

They formed a friendship that turned into a sisterhood, Knutson said in her post. The two would speak almost weekly, “at 6am, Teri’s preferred call time of choice,” said Knutson. "She always ended the calls with ‘Love your buddy Teri’.”

The 51-year-old is remembered as a huge CU Buff fan who attended every Pearl Street Stampede and enjoyed going to sporting events.

“Teri leaves behind her family, her boyfriend Clint, and many close friends that truly cared about her,” wrote Knutson in a post calling for gun violence prevention laws to be enacted.

Neven Stanisic, 23

Neven Stanisic had just fixed a coffee machine at Starbucks and was about to head off to his next repair job when the shooter shot and killed him as he sat in his car in the parking lot of the shopping center.

Logan Ezra, who works at King Soopers, posted on Facebook that Stanisic had repaired his coffee machine on Monday. “Just learned that the guy who literally fixed my espresso machine yesterday is dead now. Rest In Peace Neven,” he wrote.

“He started working right after high school to help his family, he was a very good worker,” Father Radovan Petrovic from St. John the Baptist Serbian Orthodox Church told BuzzFeed News.

Stanisic’s parents were Serbian refugees from Bosnia and they were struggling to comprehend the loss of their son, said Petrovic, who spent much of Monday and Tuesday with the family.

“They were refugees and fled the war and lost everything they had,” he said. “They leave their home and come here and start a new life without anything and for this to happen here in the US is beyond imagination.”

Stanisic worked fixing coffee machines and juice machines at the same company where his father had also worked for years. He also had a younger sister.

The local Serbian community was in deep mourning at the news of his death, said Iva Petrovic, the wife of the priest.

“He was a wonderful boy,” Iva told BuzzFeed News. “We are very affected at this point. We are grieving. It’s such a big tragedy for us in our community.”

Tralona Bartkowiak, 49

a white woman with blonde hair and sunglasses smiles in front of a nature scene

Tralona Bartkowiak, known to friends and family as Lonna, was co-owner of Umba, a clothing store in downtown Boulder that she launched with her sister, Lisa Noble.

Bartkowiak, who was originally from California, showed her travels and artistic life on her Facebook page, from trips to the Envision dance music festival in Costa Rica to experiencing Holi, the Hindu festival for spring, in Nepal and riding bikes at the Burning Man festival in Nevada.

Umba grew out of the sisters’ love for festivals and travel. “Fueled with the passion of travel, music and art, we started vending at music festivals selling imports and Umbas design line,” reads its website. “Collectively we now have evolved into a storefront in downtown Boulder where we support all our vending family designers as well as over 100 local artists.”

Tributes to Bartkowiak included a Facebook post from friend Edica Pacha, who described the 49-year-old as “the kindest and sweetest lady you ever did know. All she wanted to do was help and share beauty with others.”

“I am heartbroken for her family,” Pacha wrote. “Love you Lonna.. you were such a light.”

Bartkowiak’s roommate, BJ Cochran, wrote that he was at a loss for words at her death. “Lonna was was an angel with a heart of gold,” he wrote. “Please remind everyone that you love them. Our time is not guaranteed here.”

Kevin Mahoney, 61

I love you forever Dad. You are always with me.

Twitter: @MahoneyEb

In a moving post on Twitter, Kevin Mahoney was remembered by his daughter Erika, the news director at KAZU Public Radio in California.

Paying tribute to her father, Erika described the 61-year-old as “all things love” and expressed gratitude that he was able to walk her down the aisle at her wedding last year.

Mahoney, originally from Crystal Lake, Illinois, spent nearly a decade as the chief operating officer of Stonebridge Companies and worked for years in the hospitality industry.

“He was such a good man,” wrote Chuck Tomb in an online tribute where he shared how he had worked with Mahoney across several projects during his career.

“He was a kind, smart, articulate professional who loved his family so very much,” Tomb wrote.

Erika shared that she was expecting a child of her own and would find the strength to push through Monday’s tragedy because her father would want her “to be strong for his granddaughter.”

Jody Waters, 65

Jody Waters, a mother of two adult daughters, lived at an apartment complex just across the road from the shopping center where she was killed on Monday afternoon.

“My high school buddy. My neighbor. Heaven’s Angel,” wrote friend Jeff Schwartz on Twitter.

My high school buddy. My neighbor. Heaven’s Angel #JodyWaters May your memory be as a blessing #BoulderShooting #CO #Love

Twitter: @SchwartzNow

For 20 years, Waters, 65, ran Applause, an artsy women’s and children’s clothing and homewares store with three outlets in Colorado throughout the ’80s, ’90s, and early ’00s. Waters chose all the items, from handmade quilts from India to Betsey Johnson dresses and beaded jewelry, according to local reporting from the time. Hers was the first business in Boulder to stock Beanie Babies.

"Jody was a beautiful soul with a warm and loving heart, a mother and grandmother, and she will be dearly missed by all who were fortunate enough to know her," wrote Embrazio, a leather fashion accessories boutique where Waters worked, on Facebook.

Stephanie Boyles, the owner of Embrazio, told ABC7 Denver about the loss of her artistic friend and colleague. "She had this sense of design, space, product [selection] that was extraordinary,” said Boyles.

Originally from Barrington, Illinois, Waters started studying at the University of Arizona last year, according to her Facebook page.

"When she looked at you, you could just feel the love coming through her eyes and into you,” said Boyles.

Lynn Murray, 62

Lynn Murray and her husband, John Mackenzie, had moved to Boulder from Florida in recent years to be near their 24-year-old daughter, Olivia Mackenzie.

Murray had met John while they both worked in fashion in New York in the 1990s, she as a photo editor for top magazines like Glamour and Marie Claire, and he for the designer Donna Karan. “She wasn’t pretentious like some in the industry. My mom was so humble,” Olivia told BuzzFeed News. “She wouldn’t flaunt it but she was so artistic and creative and generally a beautiful soul.”

Around 2000, the couple quit their busy jobs and moved to Stuart, Florida, so that they could spend more time with Olivia and her younger brother, Pierce. “She just wanted to be a mom,” Olivia said.

While in Boulder, Murray had taken jobs in the gig economy, such as driving for Uber and making food deliveries. She was working as an Instacart shopper when she visited the supermarket on Monday as the shooting broke out.

Olivia said she’d seen her mother on Sunday after several months of them not being on the best of terms. Her mother brought her groceries from Whole Foods as she recovered from a broken leg and they shared one final hug.

“Everything felt so mended,” Olivia said. “I had missed her so much not being in touch with her for a few months. It just felt like things aligned for me to see her again and hug her again.”

Lila Sharfi met Murray when their daughters went to school together. She recalled to BuzzFeed News visiting her friend in New York to look at colleges with her child and said Murray was a “consummate tour guide” who made the group constantly laugh.

When Sharfi was going through a difficult period and moving into a new place by herself, she found herself inheriting a television that did not have a remote control. When Murray found out, she raced home to retrieve her own remote for her friend to use.

“It’s 10 years later and I still have that remote control,” she said. “I will keep it forever and fondly think of Lynn every time I push the power button.”

“She was a wonderful, wonderful woman,” Sharfi added. “I’ll miss her dearly.”

Suzanne Fountain, 59

By day, Suzanne Fountain worked as a financial counselor with Boulder Community Health, helping to enroll hundreds of patients in Medicare. “She was simply a very genuine person with tons of integrity,” Hilarie Kavanagh, Fountain’s Medicare Licensed Agents colleague, told the Denver Post. “She was always bright and incredibly warm. You could just see it in her eyes.”

But Fountain’s other passion was local theater, and she won a glowing review for appearing in a 2002 amateur production of Wit in which she played a nurse. A reviewer said she brought a “simple, but crucial compassion to the play.”

Fountain volunteered as the house manager at eTown Hall, a nonprofit group for performers. “Suzanne was a bright light to all she met,” the group wrote on Facebook, “and we were proud to have her represent eTown in our community as she welcomed people into our space hundreds and hundreds of times.”

In the comments, people remembered Fountain as warm and thoughtful. “Always a smile and ready to help,” wrote one former co-volunteer.

“She was a beautifully welcoming yet professional leader,” wrote another.

According to the Denver Post, Fountain is survived by a son.

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