The 10 victims of the mass shooting at a Boulder supermarket are in mourning as authorities continue their investigation.
For Teri Leiker, 51, the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo. Has long been a happy place. She worked there for about 30 years and even dated a coworker, according to her friend Lexi Knutson.
“She loved going to work and enjoyed everything being there,” Knutson told Reuters news agency. “She and her boyfriend were good friends and started dating in the fall of 2019. He was working yesterday too. He is alive.”
Leiker was among the 10 people shot at the store Monday that authorities identified on Tuesday.
Knutson said he met Leiker in 2017 as part of a University of Colorado program that aims to foster friendships between students and “community members with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” The flagship University of Colorado campus is near the store.
Knuston said she believed Leiker’s work stemmed from a special needs work program.
The 10 victims were aged 20 to 65 and included Eric Talley, an 11 year veteran of the Boulder Police Force. Talley, 51, was a father of seven and was recently looking for a less dangerous job, according to a statement released by his father.
At least two other victims appear to have worked at the store.
One of them was Rikki Olds, 25, whose Facebook page was full of photos of rivers, mountains and waterfalls, as well as selfies with boyfriend Jordan Arthur.
“Rikki baby, you were taken too early.” I miss you very much, ”Arthur wrote on Facebook over a selfie of the two, smiling in front of a rocky hill.
“Thank you all for all your prayers, but the Lord had a beautiful young angel yesterday at the hands of a deranged monster,” Lori Olds, Rikki’s aunt, wrote in a public post on her Facebook page Tuesday morning, a reported the Denver Post.
Denny Stong, 20, was the youngest victim.
Denny Strong who passed during the Colorado shootings, his last message is disturbing #Colorado #dennystrong pic.twitter.com/cdD9fGUHi8
– Tom (@ tommay911) March 23, 2021
On his Facebook page, he said he was a fan of airplanes, bikes and motorcycles. In a nod to coronavirus-induced lockdowns, he had framed his profile picture with the words “I can’t stay home, I’m a grocery store employee.”
Earlier this month, on his birthday, he asked friends to contribute to the National Foundation for Firearms rights, which the website says works “to expand precedent for guns and defend gun owners.”
“I chose this non-profit organization because its mission means a lot to me,” Stong wrote.
