City holds distanced ceremonies for mass shooting victims

BOULDER, Colo. — The city of Boulder encouraged people nationwide to hold a moment of silence and conduct a candle-lighting ceremony to honour the victims of a mass shooting at a local supermarket that killed 10 people last week.

Boulder officials asked participants to observe 10 minutes of silence and leave a candle or light in front of their homes at 8 p.m. Saturday to honour the victims. The ceremonies had to be conducted privately in lieu of a mass gathering because of health restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Still, residents such as Susan Sierota extolled the virtues of the socially distanced ceremonies.

“It’s so important to remember the victims and do so with strong community. But right now we can’t because of the pandemic,” said Sierota, a 30-year Boulder resident. “Normally, we can gather around and show people that we’re in this together.”

The former CEO of a Colorado tech startup will leave a candle by her front window for 10 days to honour the 10 victims of the King Soopers store shooting, who include 20-year-old Denny Stong; 23-year-old Neven Stanisic; 25-year-old Rikki Olds; 49-year-old Tralona Bartkowiak; 51-year-old Teri Leiker; 51-year-old Eric Talley; 59-year-old Suzanne Fountain; 61-year-old Kevin Mahoney; 62-year-old Lynn Murray; and 65-year-old Jody Waters.

“There are lots of candles in windows on my street,” Sierota said. “It’s comforting.”

David A. Humdy, a 25-year Colorado resident, said the ceremonies are important as a way to reflect on what happened.

“People are never going to forget. People are going to use it as a political battleground fight. And I think before that, I’d just like the loss of life to be acknowledged,” Humdy said.

The Boulder mass shooting occurred just days after another mass killing took place in Atlanta where eight people were killed, six of them women of Asian descent.

The Associated Press