The saying is that time heals all wounds. But for many, Boulder’s injuries are still raw.
a mass shooting at the King Soopers on Table Mesa Drive that killed 10 people — Tralona Bartkowiak, Suzanne Fountain, Teri Leiker, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray, Rikki Olds, Neven Stanisic, Denny Stong, Jody Waters and police officer Eric Talley.
The tragedy shook Boulder to its core and thrust Colorado back into the national spotlight over another mass shooting.
A lot has changed because of that gloomy March day.
The King Soopers was closed, renovated and then reopened in 2022; Colorado enacted more gun laws in the years following the shooting; one rarely enters a King Soopers or City Market in Colorado without seeing a security officer stationed in the front of the store; and the now-27-year-old man who committed the shooting is spending the rest of his life in prison after the trial ended in 2024.
On Sunday, the community will have another opportunity to heal those wounds together at the annual at the Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder.
“It was a Monday back in 2021 when the shooting happened, and I had a moment around 2 o’clock this past Monday where I was remembering that five years ago, I got the phone call from our interim city manager saying, ‘We have an active shooter. We don’t know exactly whatap happening at King Soopers, but we’re getting ready to mobilize and understand exactly whatap unfolding,’” recalled Pam Davis, a Boulder assistant city manager. “I remember that day very vividly.”
The Table Mesa King Soopers has been the neighborhood grocery store for Spense Havlick and his wife for about 20 years.
The former Boulder City Council member remarked on the 10 trees planted on the property to honor the victims and the Colorado-themed mural painted in the renovated store.
Even five years later, though, the pain is still there. It’s more than a grocery store, Havlick said, it’s a communal space.
“The marketplace, mercado, has been a safe place and a place where good organic food was in abundance,” Havlick said. “The staff were always friendly, courteous, and since that time, it’s been tragic to see how violence has entered schools and synagogues and churches, and even a movie theater. It’s a very unsettling thing to know that a safe place like that was violated.”
The Boulder Strong memorial gathering will look different this year than in the past. Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett will be the only politician speaking at the Sunday event.
Then, victims’ loved ones will have the opportunity to speak. Davis said the intention this year is to center more on supporting those close to the victims.
The city is also collaborating with those individuals, on developing a long-term memorial.
That engagement process began in 2024, according to Davis. City staffers then began exploring possible sites for a memorial — Davis did not divulge on potential locations — and funding options.
Later this spring, the city will tour a potential location with the victims’ families and discuss what the memorial may look like.
Davis added that the city is hammering out the specifics with the Boulder Community Foundation to create an opportunity for the public to financially support the memorial.
“Following engagement with families, we intend to then reach out to named survivors and other known individuals directly impacted by the tragedy,” Davis said in a follow-up email. She added: “We do not yet have a specific timeline for construction of a memorial and are committed to updating the public as we progress.”
Still, grieving takes time when a community is shaken by tragedy.
“The whole town is mourning. Especially South Boulder. (Five) years ago our church responded by hosting a first-of-its-kind event here in Colorado where, the June after the massacre, we cut up unwanted firearms because we had to do something,” Nicole Lamarche, the pastor at , located just west of the King Soopers, asking about the anniversary. Lamarche added: “I still can’t go into the grocery store without thinking about the day.”
Havlick, who attends Lamarche’s church, noted that the cut-up firearms were turned into gardening tools. Digging up dirt, to plant new life.
“Kind of symbolic,” Havlick remarked.
Five years after it was shaken to its core, Boulder continues to live with the fact that life must go on despite the lingering grief. On Sunday, that dirt will be turned again, to perhaps give space to nurture further healing.
“When we go to shop, we see those trees, and we see the lobby with its remarkable painting, and I think there is still some peace that comes to us,” Havlick said. “I think the community is healing as best it can.”
