‘It’s numbing’: CU Boulder students rattled by mass shooting in nearby King Soopers
Published by the Denver Gazette on March 24, 2021.
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For Anna Haynes, a junior at the University of Colorado Boulder, Monday was looking like another normal, boring day. She thought about her upcoming midterm and settled into her living room with a bagel and a lineup of YouTube videos when she heard a bang.
Assuming it was firework or a car backfiring, she ignored the sound. And then she heard 10 more. With curiosity peaked, Haynes walked to her living room window to investigate, looking into the parking lot of the nearby King Soopers grocery store.
That’s when she saw the shooter.
“He was going up to the store entrance and he turned around and had a gun,” Haynes said. "He shot in one specific area below him many times in a row. I couldn’t see what he was shooting at but … I believe it was a person. Then I saw a man lying in the middle of the parking lot who I later found out was dead.”
Though she didn’t know it at the time, Haynes witnessed a mass shooting incident that killed 10 people at the store at 3600 Table Mesa Dr.
“I just froze. I stood there unable to move for at least five minutes,” Haynes said. “Once I snapped out of it, I went to my roommate’s room and pulled her out of her Zoom class. We both went to the window and looked and that’s what we did for the next six, seven hours. Just stared out of that window.”
While no one affiliated with CU was killed in the shooting, numerous people from the university live, work and shop in the area that is only two miles away from campus. This proximity had left many CU students reeling.
Sarah Okeefe and Maura Kieft, two CU students, stood outside of the King Soopers in tears Tuesday afternoon, reflecting on the countless times they had shopped there.
The two first learned about the shooting Monday when friends and family began calling them asking if they were inside the store. They then spent the rest of the day in horror, watching news reports and livestreams of the shooting.
“It makes it a lot more real when it’s down the street from you and it could be anyone you know,” Okeefe said. “It’s just not fair. Everyone here is so close and kind and friendly. You see the same people working every time you go in.”
“Everyone in this community is tight. Something like this shocks everyone here,” Kieft said. “In a place like Boulder, we call it a bubble and you never expect it to pop.”
CU Boulder senior Shane Wisneski said the incident was eerily familiar to him as a former Aurora resident who lived next to the Century 16 Movie Theater during the 2012 mass shooting that killed 12 people.
"This is all just insane,” Wisneski said. “This is the second city I’ve ever lived in and the second time I’ve lived five minutes from a mass shooting. I just can’t believe that we go through this so frequently but no one in state or federal government does anything about it.”
Wisneski said he is shaken as a grocery store worker as well, as he is set to start a new job at a Whole Foods Market that shares a parking lot with the King Soopers.
“It’s going to impact us on campus for a while,” Wisneski said. “But I think it’ll sadly fade like any other shooting. We’re all so numb to this now and it's terrifying to think that.”
CU Boulder urged students to seek counseling and therapy services. The university also canceled Monday evening classes but continued to hold classes Tuesday and for the rest of the week – a decision criticized by some students.
“It’s astounding to me that CU Boulder is holding classes today less than 24 hours after a mass shooting just down the street that killed 10 people,” said CU senior Rob Tann. “There’s no time or space to grieve.”
University officials defended their decision to hold classes Tuesday afternoon, saying they wanted to foster a sense of community during a difficult time.
“During this semester in particular, we are concerned about isolation and loneliness,” said CU Chancellor Philip DiStefano. “We asked our faculty to continue to hold class, even if optional, so that they can be there for students, to provide space and to listen.”
The university also pushed its deadlines for dropping classes and for making classes pass/fail from Wednesday to March 31.
Haynes said her professors cancelled classes Tuesday to give students time to process what happened.
“A lot of today is just realizing, truly realizing what happened and what I saw,” Haynes said. “That this happened outside of my window and I saw it.”
While many CU students have spoken out about not getting adequate time off following the shooting, others are also calling for the university to make bigger changes.
Wisneski said he believes the university should stop allowing open carry on the campus in light of the shooting.
“It’s really insensitive to keep a policy like that after a shooting this close to home,” Wisneski said. “I don’t know why anyone would need to open carry on campus anyway and I think it would make a lot of people afraid or at least uncomfortable if someone did open carry on campus now.”
Though, no matter what changes come next, CU students are all too aware of the permeant loss that has taken place.
Student Body President Molly Frommelt said she knew one of the shooting victims personally, Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley. Frommelt worked with Talley for three years to help facilitate relations between the university and the city.
“He really cared about the students,” Frommelt said. “He was always willing to be their advocate.”
A Colorado native, she remembers the shootings at Arapahoe High School and the Aurora movie theater vividly, and said she couldn’t believe it has now happened to her campus.
“It’s numbing,” Frommelt said. “The university needs time to heal and the students need to know that they’re safe.”