'Just Devastated': Neighbors, Family Mourn Loss Of King Soopers Shooting Victims
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - Flowers, candles, a note that reads "Best Boss Ever" were tributes left at the door of Umba Love, a clothing and accessories store in downtown Boulder. "Umba" means sisters in Balinese.
One of the sisters who owned the shop, 49-year-old Tralona "Lonna" Bartkowiak was among 10 people killed Monday at a King Soopers on Table Mesa Drive. Tricia Hunter was shocked when CBS4's Kathy Walsh told her the tragic news.
"I had no idea," Hunter told Walsh. "It's a sad, sad day."
Tricia manages Savory Spice, a shop next door to Umba.
"She was just always a caring, giving, wonderful person. I'm just devastated," Hunter said.
One of Umba's avid customers, Janel Possiel, said Bartkowiak always treated her like family.
"She has really taught me so much about just meeting every stranger as a part of your family, because that's how you felt every time you came there," Possiel said.
Possiel said just two weeks ago, she stopped in Bartkowiak's shop and had a touching conversation with her.
"We started to talk about just the challenges that COVID had brought up and she said, 'you know challenges, challenges, I just have learned so much more about how community is so important, how love is everywhere, and I just feel so honored that I have the ability to support so many amazing artists,'" Possiel recalled. "We just kept talking and she kept bringing the conversation to the joy and the love that she was learning about and as I was leaving, she just smiled and that smile that I know, it wasn't just to me, it's to every person that she talks to, and she just said, 'isn't this life just so precious?'"
In a residential Boulder neighborhood, flowers were being delivered to the Mahoney home.
Kevin Mahoney, 61, was also one of the shooting victims.
On Twitter, his daughter, Erika, posted touching photos of her dad walking her down the aisle at her wedding. She called him her hero and wrote "I am now pregnant. I know he wants me to be strong for his granddaughter."
To him she wrote, "You are always with me.
Neighbor, Debbie Brinley, said how much Kevin will be missed.
"Kevin was incredible. He was an incredible father, an incredible spouse, an incredible neighbor. He was just a wonderful, wonderful man who didn't deserve this at all. We're devastated as a community," Debbie said choking back tears.
Olivia Mackenzie, daughter of another victim, Lynn Murray, shared photos of her mother.
She texted Walsh saying she would love for her mom to be remembered for the beautiful, amazing person she was.
Murray was working as an Instacart shopper. Instacart told CBS4 they have reached out to Murray's family to offer resources and support.
"Our deepest sympathies are with the loved ones of all those impacted by this shooting, as well as the King Soopers family and the community of Boulder," officials stated. "Violence of any kind has no place in our society, and our teams are working with law enforcement and the King Soopers team to assist in any way we can."
