Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsMaggie Montoya, center, and co-workers are led to safety by police after a gunman opened fire inside a King Soopers grocey store in Boulder on Monday, March 22, 2021.
It began as just another start of the week.
Shoppers at King Soopers on Table Mesa Drive in Boulder were filling their carts, lining up for COVID-19 vaccinations and ordering coffee at Starbucks. But at around 2:30 p.m., gunfire erupted in the store. When it was over, 10 people were dead, a suspect was in custody and the world's media glare came to focus on another mass shooting in Colorado.
She and a coworker fled into a small room where pharmacists had been administering the vaccine, hoping its metal door would protect them. Several others hid in a different part of the pharmacy. Montoya heard the shots in rapid bursts with pauses in between — several rounds at a time, never a single shot. “It was an initial rush. And then the store just got really quiet,” she said. “I honestly thought everybody was dead."
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsThe front windows are smashed at the King Soopers grocery store on Table Mesa Road in Boulder, on Monday, March 22, 2021, after police responded to a gunman there who killed at least 10 people, including a Boulder Police officer.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsPolice, fire and paramedic units from all along the Front Range converged on Boulder shortly after the initial 911 calls came in. Roads all around the southern end of Boulder were blocked off. Heavy body armor and firearms were the rule.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsArmed and armored police check cars in the parking lot of the King Soopers grocery store on Table Mesa Road in Boulder on Monday.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsPolice from numerous jurisdictions responded Monday after a gunman opened fire inside a King Soopers grocery store on Table Mesa Road in Boulder, killing at least 10 people, including a Boulder Police officer. A man is in police custody after the attack.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsPolice check cars parked in front of apartment complexes across from the King Soopers grocery store on Table Mesa Road in Boulder, on Monday, March 22, 2021, after a gunman opened fire there and killed at least 10 people, including a Boulder Police officer. A man is in police custody after the attack.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsPolice use a Boulder Fire Dept. truck ladder to access the roof of a King Soopers grocery store on Table Mesa Road in Boulder, on Monday.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsLaw enforcement officers leave a standoff operation at an apartment on Grove Street and 17th in a Boulder, a few miles from the site of the King Soopers shooting. Officials later said the incident there had no connection with the shootings at King Soopers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsMaggie Montoya reunites with her boyfriend after being escorted by police out of King Soopers in Boulder Monday, Mar. 22, 2021. Montoya was inside the grocery store when a gunman opened fire there, killing at least 10 people, including a Boulder Police officer. A man is in police custody after the attack.
Joe Wertz/CPR NewsBoulder Police Chief Maris Herold speaks to reporters at a press conference hours after the March 22, 2021 shooting.
Joe Wertz/CPR NewsPolice tape encircles the parking lot at King Soopers in Boulder, Colo., as police investigate the scene of the March 22, 2021 shooting that killed 10 people.
Tuesday: The Victims
The 10 people killed in Monday’s mass shooting at King Soopers in Boulder, ranged in age 20 through 65, and lived in and around Boulder. They are: Tralona Bartkowiak, Suzanne Fountain, Teri Leiker, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray, Rikki Olds, Neven Stanisic, Denny Stong, Eric Talley and Jody Waters.
Thousands of people gathered at the shopping center to leave notes and bouquets, crosses, candles and clothing outside a chain-link fence. Among them are signs calling for new limits on guns, especially assault-style weapons, like the one likely used Monday. "Weren't we hard already hard enough?" said Darcy Lopez, a King Soopers employee who was inside the grocery store during the shooting. "This had to happen too?"
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteHundreds of people began to visit the site of the shooting to leave flowers, cards and candles on.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteSnow falls on the makeshift memorial around the perimeter of the Table Mesa King Soopers parking lot continues to grow, Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteDevin Jamroz and Emily Zinn embrace as they visit the memorial to the victims.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteLouis Saxton, a cello student at CU, came to play music by the memorial site for a bit of healing.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteRon Cabrera lights a candle at the makeshift memorial around the perimeter of the Table Mesa King Soopers parking lot, Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteEmily Anderson lit candles at a makeshift memorial outside of the Table Mesa King Soopers in Boulder on Tuesday night.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteIo Hartman lights a candle at the memorial outside the Table Mesa King Soopers.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteSnow falls on the memorial around the perimeter of the Table Mesa King Soopers parking lot.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteMemorials also grew in other places around Boulder, including this one for Tralona Bartkowiak at her clothing store in Boulder, Umba.
Wednesday: Questions And Goodbyes
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRobert Olds, the uncle of Rikki Olds, 25, who was among 10 shot and killed Monday in an attack at a Boulder King Soopers grocery store, tells reporters on Wednesday March 24 2021 his niece "lived life on her own terms." Seated next to him at the table is Carlee Lough, one of Rikki’s coworkers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRobert Olds, the uncle of Rikki Olds, 25, who was among 10 shot and killed Monday in an attack at a Boulder King Soopers grocery store, tells reporters on Wednesday March 24 2021 his niece "lived life on her own terms."
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsCarlee Lough, one of Rikki Olds’ s coworkers, speaks to reporters on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in Lafayette, alongside Robert Olds, Rikki's uncle.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsColorado Gov. Jared Polis pays his respects to the 10 people killed in the shooting rampage.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsSigns calling for an assault weapon ban join the makeshift memorial outside the Table Mesa King Soopers in Boulder.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsA Thin Blue Line flag of support for police hangs along the fence outside King Soopers grocery store in Boulder on Wednesday.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsPeople pay their respects to Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley at the department’s headquarters on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Talley was the first officer to arrive at the shooting Monday at Kings Soopers in Boulder and was among the 10 killed.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsA hearse carrying the body of Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, accompanied by a long procession of law enforcement vehicles, passes by those paying their respects on Foothills Parkway on Wednesday.
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