Boy offers flowers at grocers after killings

Mom accompanies son as they show support after mass shooting.

Eleven-year-old gives out carnations to all workers at one King Soopers in Colorado, then red roses at another.

The morning after the deadly mass shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, JJ Witmer, an 11-year-old boy from nearby Brighton, sat on the couch beside his mother, watching the news.

Jody Witmer explained to her son that 10 people were killed at a King Soopers store, a grocery chain the family frequents.

“As a mom, you want to educate your children, but you also want to keep them safe and free of worry. I didn’t want him to fear going to the grocery store,” Witmer, 51, said. “But it was inevitable that he was going to hear about it since the shooting was very close to home.”

Her son is normally a talkative kid, she said, but after she told him about the attack, “he got really quiet and introspective.”

While he was most devastated for the victims and their families, he said, he couldn’t help but think of King Soopers employees around the state, who had to go to work the next day.

JJ turned to his mother and said, “We need to do something.”

He proposed handing out flowers to employees at King Soopers stores in Brighton and Commerce City near his home to show support. His local stores are about 25 miles from the Boulder store where the attack happened, but he said he knew it would be hard for employees everywhere to show up to work the day after the shooting.

“Let’s do it,” Witmer said to her son.

The mother-son duo first headed to a King Soopers store in Brighton. JJ asked to speak to the store manager, who gave him permission to distribute flowers to all employees.

He purchased dozens of carnations with money he earned from dog-walking. When JJ told the florist his plan to give a flower to every store employee, she offered him a generous discount.

They did several laps around the supermarket and handed out one flower to every employee. With each flower, JJ shared an earnest message.

After about 45 minutes in the store, they moved on to another King Soopers location in Reunion, a community in Commerce City, which is where the Witmer family usually gets their groceries.

“We know most of the employees there,” JJ said.

He purchased three dozen red roses that the store’s florist also offered at a heavily discounted price. Again, he circled the supermarket, handing out flowers to every employee in sight.

“He even waited for a staff meeting to end so he wouldn’t miss anybody,” Witmer said.

COURTESY OF JODY WITMER JJ Witmer said he knew it would be hard for King Soopers employees to be back at work in Colorado the day after the shooting, and he wanted to express his support.