- A nonprofit helping families of fallen first responders says it'll pay off Eric Talley's mortgage.
- Talley was killed last week while responding to a shooting at a
Colorado supermarket. - He is survived by his wife and seven children.
A nonprofit says it will pay off the mortgage of Eric Talley, the police officer who was fatally shot while responding to the attack at a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket last week.
Tunnel to Towers Foundation, an organization that was created to help support families of first responders who die while serving, said it would pay 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," the foundation's CEO, Frank Siller, told "Fox & Friends" on Saturday.
Siller's brother, Stephen Siller, was a New York City firefighter who died in the September 11, 2001, terrorist 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, for which a 21-year-old man has been charged with killing 10 people.
Officers found Talley with a bullet wound to the head when they entered the store.
He was a "very kind man," Chief Maris Herold of the Boulder Police Department said.
"He didn't have to go into policing," Herold said. "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. 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," he said, adding, "He was willing to die to protect others."
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