Boulder Police Department/Twitter
- A non-profit helping families of fallen first responders will pay off officer Eric Talley's mortgage.
- Eric Talley was killed last week after responding to a shooting at a Boulder King Soopers supermarket.
- He is survived by his wife and seven children.
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A non-profit said it will pay off the mortgage of officer Eric Talley, who died while responding to an active shooter at a Boulder, Colorado supermarket last week.
Tunnel to Towers Foundation, an organization that was created to help support families of first responders that die while serving, said that it would be paying off Talley's mortgage.
"It's so important because Eric gave his life and left behind a wife and seven children, and for him to rush in and go toward … the danger to save people is just incredible," foundation CEO Frank Siller told "Fox & Friends" on Saturday.
Siller's brother, Stephen Siller, was a New York City firefighter who died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Talley is survived by his wife and seven children.
He was the first officer to respond to calls of a shooting at the King Soopers store in Boulder, where 21-year-old shooting suspect Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa allegedly killed 10 people.
Officers found Talley with a bullet wound to the head when they entered the store.
He was a "very kind man," Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said.
"He didn't have to go into policing. He had a profession before this but he felt a higher calling. He loved this community and he's everything that policing deserves and needs," Herold said. "He cared about this community. He cared about the Boulder Police Department. He cared about his family and he was willing to die to protect others."
Talley's father, Homer Talley, said his son had a master's degree in computer science and was training to become a drone operator.
"We want to make sure ... his mortgage is paid off by Easter. His family is very spiritual, very religious," Siller told Fox & Friends. "He gave up a very good job in IT. They made a decision - him and his wife Leah -- that he wanted to go into law enforcement and protect and serve. Well, you know what? We better serve him and his family right now."
The elder Talley said the officer would have died for his fellow officers.
"He cared about this community ... and he was willing to die to protect others," he said.
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