By Roxanne King/National Catholic Register
On the afternoon of March 22, Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley rushed to a King Soopers grocery store where a dispatcher said a shooting was in progress. It was the last call for help the 51-year-old officer would answer, as he was fatally shot soon after sprinting inside.
“He knew people were dying. He was the first officer on the scene and courageously did what he had been trained to do. He saved lives,” Boulder Police Sgt. Adrian Drelles, Talley’s supervisor, said at a March 30 memorial service for his friend at Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, Colorado, a suburb of Boulder. “From the time Eric entered the store and confronted the suspect, no other civilian was hurt.”
Nine other people were also killed in the mass shooting. A 21-year-old suspect was taken into custody within an hour after the slaying started in the grocery store’s parking lot. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder for shooting at a second police officer.
“Be proud of your father, he is a hero,” Drelles said, addressing Talley’s seven children, who range in age from 7 to 20. “He lived his life through God to be a role model for you. Your father is a real-life example of the good in this world.”
Talley’s wife of nearly 28 years, Leah, wasn’t surprised by her husband’s actions.
“He saw the right thing to do and probably stormed through and did it because he wasn’t going to have any more people hurt,” she told the Register. “That’s the kind of man he was.”
No Greater Love
At Talley’s funeral Mass, the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite celebrated in Latin and held at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver on March 29, Archbishop Samuel Aquila offered condolences to the Talley family on behalf of the entire Catholic community.
“Jesus has told us ‘greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life,’ and Eric lived that,” the archbishop said. “In … testimonies from other officers, it was evident that he was a man of God, one who put Christ first in his life.”
Fr. James Jackson (R) delivers a homily during the funeral Mass for Boulder police officer Eric Talley at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on March 29, 2021, in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Daniel Petty/Archdiocese of Denver)
Talley represents the best in law enforcement, the archbishop said, as he offered prayers and gratitude for all police.
“I want to honor you, for too often, you are taken for granted,” he said, addressing police officers. “Yet in situations like this, you are the ones who protect human life.”
Finding Faith
With a master’s degree in computer science, Talley had served as a Boulder police officer for 11 years after making a career switch from IT at age 40. In addition to patrol work, he was a founding member of the department’s drone team, convinced such technology would be vital in protecting both the public and police. He also worked in the “Explorer” program, which educates youths and young adults interested in law enforcement careers. Talley often joked that he entered policing because it was less stressful than troubleshooting computer systems.
“It fit right in with his nature of wanting to protect,” Leah Talley said, adding that when the two first met, Eric worked in security. “He was very good at it. We would go shopping, and he would be catching shoplifters even when he wasn’t on the job. He has a second-degree black belt [in karate]. That training, coupled with his nature … gave him a good background for police work.”
Just three months after meeting, the couple decided to marry. She was Catholic; he was Protestant.
“No one thought it would work,” said the former audiologist, now home-schooling mom.
In 2005, the couple moved from Indiana to Colorado. They began attending the traditional Latin Mass and, after some initial hesitation from Eric, fell in love with it. In 2007, he converted to Catholicism.
“In the early part of our marriage I was always wanting something, and he’d always wanted something,” Leah said, describing their then-lackluster faith backgrounds. “He had always wanted, I think, what the Catholic faith offered in its foundation: a good family, a happy home, children. He wanted to be part of what a Catholic family was, even though I don’t think either one of us identified it as a Catholic family.”
As their faith grew, it saw them through the challenges of marriage and family life.
“It held us together,” Leah said.
To Love Like Christ
The funeral liturgy of the traditional Latin Mass, which was filled with angelic chant, served in part to thank God for Eric’s life, Father James Jackson, of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, said in his homily. The priest is pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Littleton, Colorado, where the Talley family worships.
“He was a good man, an honorable and faithful father, a faithful husband, son, friend; a faithful and heroic officer of the law,” the pastor said. “But I will stop there, since traditional Catholics do not want to be canonized at their funerals. They want prayers for their stay in purgatory; prayers for the loved ones they left behind.”
To those who wonder where Christ was during the Boulder massacre, he was undergoing his passion, death and resurrection, Father Jackson said, atoning for the sins of humanity.
“He saw everything that happened in Boulder,” the priest said, noting that Christians would commemorate Christ’s salvific work, on which rests hope for salvation, later that Holy Week. The funeral Mass, he added, thanked God for that gift of redemption.
From L-R, Fr. James Jackson, Fr. Daniel Nolan, and Fr. Daniel Kluge celebrate a traditional Latin Requiem Mass for Boulder police officer Eric Talley at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on March 29, 2021, in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Daniel Petty/Archdiocese of Denver)
“What he did for Eric, he did for all, even his enemies,” Father Jackson said.
Officer Talley loved with the love of Christ, asserted Father Daniel Nolan, also of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, assistant pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, who led the March 30 memorial service in Lafayette, which preceded Talley’s burial in a Catholic cemetery.
“I would argue Officer Talley’s life was not taken, it was given — he gave it,” Father Nolan said. “It was love that enabled Officer Talley to do this. He loved his fellow man, he loved strangers he’d never met … he loved his family, his faith, Our Lord.
“Our Lord challenges his followers … don’t love others with your strength, your soul, your mind. Love them with mine. ‘This is the commandment I give to you: Love one another as I have loved you’” (John 15:12).
‘100% a Hero’
The Boulder police officials, the Colorado governor and the friend who eulogized Talley at the memorial service affirmed his heroism stemmed from his wholehearted, loving service to others.
Talley’s personnel file is full of thank-you letters from grateful citizens he had served, noted Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold. He represents excellence in policing, she said.
“Eric was brave, and in the end, willing to die to save others,” Herold said. “The Boulder Police Department will never forget Eric or his family’s sacrifice.”
Talley’s concern for others found him shoveling to help a woman whose water pipe had broken, keeping vigil with fellow officers who were ill, and collecting and delivering items to a boy in the hospital who wanted “police stuff,” noted Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
“Just as Officer Talley loved his family, that love extended far beyond his home to the Boulder community and well beyond,” he said. “His life is an inspiration.”
Talley’s compassion and kindness are visible in his children, Drelles said. The day he went to the Talley home to break the news of his death to his family, he was clueless how to comfort them.
“Something unexpected happened. Eric’s kids jumped into action, started making phone calls, and, instead, they gave me comfort,” he said. “In the darkest hour of their life, they made sure that we were okay. The lesson Eric taught his children is to serve others before yourself, exactly as he lived his life.”
Friend from college Chris Turner said he believes that behind Talley’s well-known zeal for games — the family has some 450 board and card games — was the opportunity they offered to spend time with family and friends, old and new. Whatever the activity, work or play, Talley was fully present and invested, Turner said.
“By giving 100% of himself, you always knew what you were getting with Eric,” he said. “100% a hero.”
A Man of Hidden Virtues
Confident in her husband’s policing skills, Leah Talley said she didn’t fear for his safety.
“The only time I doubted that was probably about five minutes before I got the news he had been shot,” she said. “I just knew something was wrong. I hadn’t heard from him.”
Then, a friend who had learned of the Boulder shooting, called to ask about him.
“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s where he is then. That’s why he hasn’t called,’”she said, trying not to think the worst. “In that split second, the doorbell rang. Then I knew who was behind the other side of the door.”
Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila (L) delivers brief remarks during the funeral Mass for Boulder police officer Eric Talley as Father James Jackson (R) looks on at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on March 29, 2021, in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Daniel Petty/Archdiocese of Denver)
Devoted, loving, humble, selfless, kind and caring. That was her husband, Leah Talley said.
“A man of hidden virtues, I think, even to me,” she said, her voice breaking. “He touched other people’s lives in so many ways and was always willing to do everything for them.”
He was the same with the children and with her, she said.
Talley enjoyed woodworking and surprised her one Christmas with a beautiful kneeler he had made.
“He knew I wanted to kneel and pray,” she said. “He was always so willing to do everything for me. I never felt I ever did quite enough for him.”
A Hero Revealed
The outpouring of love and support from across the nation for the Talley family has been uplifting, Leah said.
Both the funeral Mass and the memorial service were livestreamed due to limited seating in the churches for pandemic protocols. The services drew hundreds and were preceded by long processions of law enforcement vehicles.
“I don’t know how to thank a nation that I never knew was so supportive of policing, especially in this climate we’ve been in. It has been truly edifying,” Leah said. “Eric was always a hero to me, but now everybody else knows he was a hero.”