Remembering The 10 Boulder Shooting Victims: Who They Were

BOULDER, CO — A row of 10 crosses line a fence outside the Boulder grocery store where 10 people were killed in a mass shooting Monday.

Thousands of their loved ones, friends, co-workers and community members have stopped by the fence to set down flowers, shed tears and bring messages of hope.

Gov. Jared Polis ordered Tuesday all flags lowered to half staff for 10 days in honor of each of the 10 victims.

Here is a glimpse into their lives.

Eric Talley

Family members and colleagues remember Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, 51, as a generous man who cared for his loved ones as well as the city he swore to protect.

Talley was the first officer to arrive at the King Soopers grocery store Monday after a gunman opened fire inside.

Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold called Talley's death heartbreaking. She recalled the father of seven and his family were in her office only two weeks ago to present an award to one of Talley's sons for performing CPR he learned from his father to save the life of his little brother.

Herold said Talley was a "very kind man and he didn't have to go into policing" but that he felt a higher calling to protect and serve the people of Boulder.

"He loved this community, and he's everything that policing deserves and needs," she said. "He cared about this community, he cared about Boulder Police Department, he cared about his family, and he was willing to die to protect others."

Homer Talley, his father, said his son was working in information technology when he decided to leave his job and pivot into policing at the age of 40.

Talley joined the department in 2010 and was recently training to become a drone operator to keep himself out of harm's way and spend more time with his family.

"He loved his kids and his family more than anything. … He didn't want to put his family through something like this," Homer Talley said.

Denny Stong

The youngest victim of the deadly shooting at a Boulder grocery store "was a kind soul with a funny sense of humor and unique interests," his friend said.

Denny Stong, 20, was working at the King Soopers when the shooter opened fire.

"I have known him since I was in elementary school," said James Noland, Stong's friend. "It was only ten days ago that we were all hanging out at Bianca's house, talking and laughing together. This is the last thing I would have ever expected."

Noland, started a GoFundMe page in support of Stong's family.

"He did nothing wrong and deserved this in no way at all. He made no choice that led to this. He simply showed up to work, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time," the post read.

Stong loved planes, bikes and motorcycles, according to his posts on social media.

"I can't stay home, I'm a grocery store worker," Stong wrote in an open Facebook post March 22, 2020, in a show of solidarity with other front-line workers during the pandemic.

Stong graduated from Fairview High School in 2019 and dreamed of being a pilot, The Denver Post reported.

He was a member of the Boulder Aeromodeling Society, and flew model planes near the Boulder Reservoir, according to his Instagram posts.

Neven Staisic

The 23-year-old was a man of faith, his church said. Stanisic was the second youngest victim killed in the shooting. He was a service worker who was fixing a coffee machine in the King Soopers store, officials said.

Stanisic walked back to his car in the store's parking lot, and got inside. A gunman then opened fire, and a bullet struck and killed Stanisic, police said.

Rev. Radovan Petrovic, the head priest of Saint John The Baptist Serbian Orthodox Church in Lakewood, told The Denver Post that Stanisic's family fled the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and came to the U.S. as refugees.

"Everything they had was either left behind or destroyed," Petrovic told The Post.

"They left everything to save their lives, and came here to have a new start."

The family escaped the violence so their children could have a better life.

Petrovic's wife described the 23-year-old as a hard worker, who was shy and always obeyed his parents, The Post reported.

Rikki Olds

The 25-year-old was working as a service manager at King Soopers when the gunman opened fire. But Olds' life won't be remembered by her last moments, her family said. She will instead be remembered for the impact she made each day in the lives of her loved ones and co-workers.

"Rikki Olds was truly one of a kind. She didn't follow trends—she made them," her family said in a statement.

"From the outside, you might notice her colorful hair, her bubbly personality, her laughter and a smile that lit up the room. For those of you lucky enough to call her friend, you knew she was a type of person who would always be there for you. She'd embrace you and give you confidence to be the person you want to be," the statement read, in part.

"She had the tenacity and big dreams to make a great life for herself and to help others along the way."

Olds was born on July 28, 1995, in Lafayette. She graduated in 2013 from Centaurus High School and attended classes at Front Range Community College in pursuit of a career in nursing, her family said.

Olds was hired by King Soopers in early 2016, where she spent the next five years moving up the ranks of the grocery store chain. She decided to change career paths and aspired to become a store manager, her family said.

Olds enjoyed hiking, golf, softball and spending time with friends.

Tralona Bartkowiak

Tralona "Lonna" Bartkowiak, 49, was a kindhearted, "free spirit" who was always smiling, her friends and neighbors said.

A shrine filled with candles and flowers kept growing Wednesday outside Umba Love, the clothing and accessories shop that Bartkowiak ran with her sister on Boulder's popular Pearl Street Mall.

"She was just a really happy-go-lucky person," said Tricia Hunter, a manager at the Savory Spice store next door.

Hunter said Bartkowiak was dedicated to her shop, traveling to festivals and working hard to keep the business going.

"She was a very free spirit, kind to everyone, always smiling, always happy," Hunter said. "I rarely saw her in a bad mood."

Hunter said she went to Umba Love to borrow shipping boxes and saw Bartkowiak on Sunday. Her death the next day was a shock.

"It is pretty heartbreaking that somebody is just running to the store to get something, and a gunman is there shooting people, and you get killed," she said.

Friend and former roommate Stacy Dixon told KUSA-TV that Bartkowiak was planning to get married soon.

She was "giving and kind and uplifting" and "had probably the brightest light I have ever met in a human being," Dixon said.

Suzanne Fountain

Friends of Suzanne Fountain remember her as a kind and warm person who was always willing to help others.

Not only did the 59-year-old work as a Medicare agent to help Boulder's older residents sign up for health insurance, she was also the type of person who would put her own life on the line if it meant saving other people, they said. One friend said she probably put herself in harm's way to protect others when a gunman opened fire inside a King Soopers grocery store Monday, killing 10 people including Fountain.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was confronting the mother------ who did this, to be honest with you," Martha Harmon Pardee told the Colorado Springs Gazette. "She was fearless and funny and giving and just a salt-of-the-Earth person."

Pardee told the paper Fountain was her soulmate and that the two were there for each other at major moments in their lives — Fountain being the matron of honor at Pardee's wedding and Pardee being there for Fountain during the birth of her son.

In addition to her work helping people with their insurance issues, Fountain was also a well-known fixture in Denver's and Boulder's theater scene, having worked as a stage actress throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

She received multiple accolades for her performances, according to The Gazette, including a Denver Drama Critics Circle Award for best supporting actor when she played Laura Wingfield in a production of "The Glass Menagerie." Fountain also received a glowing review from the Boulder Daily Camera in 2002 for her performance as a nurse in the medical drama "Wit," with the paper's critic at the time saying she brought a "simple but crucial compassion to the play."

Teri Leiker

A dedicated King Soopers employee was working at a job she loved when the shooter opened fire. Leiker, 51, worked at the store for more than 30 years, her friend Lexi Knutson said in an Instagram post.

Leiker was "the most selfless, innocent, amazing person I have every had the honor of meeting," the post said.

The pair met several years ago through the University of Colorado Boulder's Best Buddies program, Knutson said. The organization connects students with people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.

"Her shy friendship towards me turned into a sort of sisterhood," Knutson said.

Leiker would call her early in the morning almost every week and would end their calls with, "love your buddy, Teri," Knutson said.

The longtime King Soopers employee loved to watch the University of Colorado marching band perform in a kickoff celebration called the Pearl Street Stampede on Friday nights before home football games on the Boulder campus, band Director Matt Dockendorf told The Denver Post.

"She was there even before we started gathering, which is half an hour before the stampede started," Dockendorf said. "She was just a staple. She was kind of a personal cheerleader for the band."

Kevin Mahoney

When the pandemic hit, Kevin Mahoney, 61, decided to take over grocery shopping duties for his household and was joking around with his wife, Ellen Mahoney, on Monday ahead of his routine trip to the local King Soopers, according to The Denver Post. He never returned from that trip.

Mahoney retired several years ago from working in hospitality development and had spent part of his free time volunteering for the Boulder chapter of Meals on Wheels, Ellen Mahoney told the Post. Ellen Mahoney recalled that Kevin loved national parks, and the couple spent the past year of the pandemic going on hikes together.

"Kevin was such a kind person, a great friend," she told the paper. "He also had a great sense of humor. … He will be really, truly, dearly missed."

Mahoney's daughter, Erika Mahoney, took to Twitter to mourn her father, saying he represented "all things love" and was looking forward to becoming a grandfather in the summer.

"I am heartbroken to announce that my Dad, my hero, Kevin Mahoney, was killed in the King Soopers shooting in my hometown of Boulder, CO," she said.

"I'm so thankful he could walk me down the aisle last summer. ... I am now pregnant. I know he wants me to be strong for his granddaughter."

Lynn Murray

Murray, 62, was spotted at King Soopers in Boulder by a friend's daughter earlier in the day. When news of the shooting reached Murray's husband, John Mackenzie, he immediately began texting his wife. He waited for a response that would never come.

"I just fell over in my chair," Mackenzie told the Associated Press.

Murray and Mackenzie met at a photography studio in New York City. Murray was educated at Ohio University before leaving the Buckeye State for photography jobs at Cosmopolitan and Vogue, according to the Denver Post. When Mackenzie met his wife, he knew she was special.

"She charmed the pants off me," he said.

They started playing backgammon games together, chatting and flirting and eventually dating. They eventually wed and had two children. Murray retired and moved to Colorado.

One of the couple's children, Olivia Mackenzie, told the Denver Post her mother was "the light" in everybody's life.

"She's the kindest person I ever knew, hands down. She had an aura about her that was the coolest freakin' thing you'd ever want to know. She was just a cool chick," Mackenzie said. "She had it all together — she really did."

"My mom was the least deserving person to die this way," Olivia said.

Mackenzie said he spent hours consoling his children. On Tuesday, he broke down and "lost it" the grief flooding in. But he offered a message of hope to survivors and the community.

"Don't live in fear. My wife, none of the victims, would ever want you to live in fear. They'd want you to be bolder and live bolder. That's what this place is about," he said.

Jody Waters

Waters, 65, who was known for being a role model to her younger coworkers and giving great advice, her friends said.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Waters worked at Island Farm, a boutique in downtown Boulder. The store staff was like a family, and Waters helped it feel like home, her staff said.

"She immediately took me under her wing, treating me like her own daughter," said Madeline Soultz, 23, a former sales associate whose family lives far away.

Store manager Lily Rood, 26, said Waters, who had two daughters and a son, was "a mother to all the girls here."

Island Farm opened its doors Tuesday to customers, friends and loved ones who came to reminisce about Waters — her penchant for collecting heart-shaped leaves on hikes, her animal-print decor at home, her get-togethers with co-workers over margaritas and the advice she gave.

"You could go to her with any problem," Soultz said. Waters wasn't shy about letting people know if they made mistakes, but "she knew your potential, even if you didn't know it."

"The world got dimmer without her," Boutique owner Jen Haney said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Patch Editors Andy Nyugen and Chris Mosby also contributed to this report.