Blind Plea - Introducing: Senseless with Erika Mahoney

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

This week we’re introducing you to a powerful new podcast, Senseless with Erika Mahoney. Everything changed one ordinary Monday, when Erika Mahoney’s mom called to say there was an active shooter at the grocery store nearby. In a matter of seconds, ten people were killed – including Erika’s father.  With the high-profile trial of the shooter as a backdrop, Erika speaks to survivors of mass shootings, community leaders, and others impacted by the tragedy in Boulder, on her deeply personal quest to move forward after the unthinkable.  Mass shootings have become a daily, uniquely American tragedy. But what happens to those left behind afterward? Senseless is a raw, unfiltered journey through grief, trauma, resilience, and moving forward after your world shatters forever. We’re going to play you a clip from the first episode when Erika’s life gets turned upside down. After you listen, search for Senseless with Erika Mahoney wherever you get your podcasts, or head to https://lemonada.lnk.to/SenselesswithErikaMahoneyfdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, I'm Erica Mahoney, and I'm a journalist, a mom, and I'm also a survivor. On an ordinary Monday in March of 2021, I got a phone call that changed my life. My mom told me there was an active shooter at our neighborhood grocery store in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado, and Dad went shopping. That day, ten innocent people, just going about their lives, were killed. My dad was one of them. In my new podcast, Senseless, I share my journey about trying to make sense of the senseless. I talk with other survivors, first responders, people

who stepped up to help, and even a medium. I go on a grief retreat deep in the redwoods, and I attend the trial of the man responsible. This show is about trauma, yes, but it's also about connection, healing, and moving forward after the unthinkable. We're going to play you the beginning of the first episode. After you listen, make sure to follow Senseless with Erica Mahoney wherever you get your podcasts. Or just head to the link in the show notes. This podcast relives an account of gun violence and the trauma that follows.

Please take care when listening. It started as a typical Monday, March 22, 2021. Not great, not bad, just ordinary. Until everything changed in an instant. I was living in Carmel on the coast of California. I remember the sky was gray and overcast and the ocean was calm, a shade of dark blue. Three states over, snow covered the mountains in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado. That's where my parents live, in the same house I grew up in, in the same South Boulder neighborhood set right against the foothills. A haven of hiking trails and dogs and good public schools and

a main grocery store everyone shops at, King's Supers. You know how you have a favorite grocery store because you know where everything is? That was this King's Supers. And I call it King's Supes. Yeah, do you too call it King's Supes? Yeah, definitely. We had several nicknames. Yeah, King'ss and soupers, just kind of dropping the king. Yeah, yeah, right. Go to the Kings. Yeah, exactly. And it was just like the, you know, South Boulder grocery store. Everybody runs in to and I'm the kind of grocery store shopper that goes daily in a sense. Jenny Jacobson loves her community and music and backpacking.

She raised her daughter on her own, all while working as a teacher and waitress. Now she's a substitute teacher for schools in Boulder. That Monday afternoon, Jenny ran into King Super's, as usual, to grab a few things she needed for dinner that night. And I was like, oh, I'm going to make pulled pork in the crock pot. And so I had to run in and get the coleslaw for the top of the pulled pork sandwich, you know? And I just walked in and I got the three items or four items that I needed.

You know, that's it. And I carried them in my arms. And as I'm walking out of the store, I'm thinking of like 10 things as I do. I'm like, okay, I got to go home. I got to do this. I got to do that. I'm watching a dog right now. I got to walk this dog. I got to go change my laundry and put the laundry in the dryer. Like I'm thinking of 10 things. And as I'm walking, there's a man in front of me. And again, this is kind of near COVID time. So we're still kind of social distancing ourselves, like we're supposed to not be all up next to each other. And this gentleman that I am now trailing is very, very nice, but kind of looks over

his shoulder to kind of say like, why are you so close to me? And as he does that, I'm like, oh, oh, sorry. Because I am carrying all my groceries and I was, I was kind of like walking very close to this man. So I take like two steps back, or I just slowed down really. That man was Kevin Mahoney, who for over 25 years lived less than five minutes from the store. He also loved his community and hiking and skiing.

Retired from a career in hotel development, he was volunteering at Meals on Wheels and traveling in his free time. But most importantly, he's my dad. Most importantly, he's my dad. Like Jenny, my dad was shopping for just a few things that afternoon, some weekly staples. It was a year into the pandemic, so at this point, my dad liked going to the grocery store because it was a reason to get out of the house. And he'd mainly been the one shopping to make sure my mom didn't get COVID. After buying his groceries and stopping at the Starbucks kiosk near the West Side entrance for his favorite coffee,

my dad walked out to the parking lot, pushing his shopping cart with two bags of groceries towards his car. Meanwhile, Jenny, who didn't have a cart, was just carrying her items in her arms. And then I realized I'm still following this man, and he probably thinks I'm a big weirdo. And now I realized, oh my God, our cars are parked next to each other. This is great, right?

Like, oh great. Now he thinks I'm stalking him. And he looks at me again, like, why are you still following me? I actually we never spoke. I just like looked at him and smiled because I'm like, this is my car. And he's like, oh, OK, right. Like we're parked next to each other. And I'm like, great. Like kind of embarrassed, like I'm not following you.

So at that time now, Kevin has a cart and we get to our cars and we open our trunks at the exact same time. It's almost comical now. It is. I mean we're both doing the exact same thing and now we are putting our groceries into our trunks at the exact same time. So I look at him and I smile and he smiles at me and when he smiled at me it really reminded me of my dad. Like it looked just like my dad. I love that. It did. And then we finished our groceries

at almost the exact same time. And I'm like, OK, this is creepy now. And we go to close our trunks. And I had to reach up because I have a 2017 car, which doesn't have an automatic trunk and your father's car does. And so he went to go close his trunk and he pressed a button and it went beep and at that moment I said, ooh, like that. A brief, friendly exchange, perhaps forgettable under most circumstances, but it would turn

out to be an unforgettable moment. And that made him throw his head back, and he just laughed out loud, like a big belly laugh, like a ha ha ha, you know, and he did. He laughed out loud, and you know, I laughed, and that was it, you you know and that was an interaction between two strangers. I love that he had this laugh and I love this story. It's a story that would take Jenny more than two years to share with my mom and me

and an interaction she would later describe on the witness stand because after that interaction Jenny would get into her car and my dad would start to return his shopping cart. Then everything changed. Laughter turns into confusion and then fear and then terror. The first gunshot rang out at 2.29 p.m. The first gunshot rang out at 2.29 p.m. Senseless with Erica Mahoney, premiering June 17th. Listen to Senseless from Lemonada Media wherever you get your podcasts.