Veteran Police Officer Among 10 Killed In Boulder Grocery Store Shooting

Boulder Police have released the identity of the officer killed in a mass shooting in a grocery store: Officer Eric Talley

There still haven’t been many details released about yesterday’s horrific mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. What we do know is that a suspect is in custody and 10 people were killed. Among them is one police officer, who has now been identified as Officer Eric Talley.

Talley was an 11-year veteran of the Boulder Police Department, and Chief Maris Herold described him as “heroic” during a news conference at the scene of the shooting Monday night.

“He was the first on the scene, and he was fatally shot,” Herold said, visibly shaken and holding back tears throughout her statement. “My heart goes out to the victims of this incident. And I’m grateful to the police officers that responded. And I am so sorry about the loss of Officer Talley.”

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Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty also spoke, saying, “He was by all accounts one of the outstanding officers of the Boulder Police Department, and his life was cut far too short.”

Officer Talley’s father, Homer Talley, released a statement describing his son as a loving husband and father.

“He took his job as a police officer very seriously,” Homer Talley wrote. “He had seven children. The youngest is 7 years old. He loved his kids and his family more than anything. He joined the police force when he was 40 years old. He was looking for a job to keep himself off the front lines and was learning to be a drone operator. He didn’t want to put his family through something like this and he believed in Jesus Christ.”

On Twitter, a woman who identified herself as Officer Talley’s sister wrote, “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.”

Talley was the sixth officer to be killed in the line of duty in the Boulder Police Department’s history, and the first since 1994, according to the local newspaper, the Boulder Daily Camera. As his body was transported from the scene of the shooting to a local funeral home, it was escorted by a procession of emergency vehicles, as first responders lined the sides of Table Mesa Road, saluting.