Interview with deaf brother of Boulder shooting victim

One of the victims of the Boulder grocery store shooting, Kevin Mahoney, is a brother to a deaf man, Mike Mahoney. I was able to interview him this afternoon.

Mike Mahoney: Hello, my name is Mike Mahoney. This is my sign name.

Mike is one and a half years older than Kevin. Here is a picture of him with Mike’s son.

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He said he found out about the shooting through his CNN app.

Mike Mahoney: I saw on CNN about the shooting in Boulder, Colorado. I had a brother and his wife who lived there, yes, but I never expected that something would happen to my brother.

Mike then contacted his mother, who is currently on vacation in Hawaii. He was informed that Kevin was among those “missing.”

Mike Mahoney: My mom texted me at 8:35 that my brother Kevin was “missing” in the shooting.

Mike said his family members tried to contact Kevin, but they received no responses. They started to realize that he might be deceased. He got final confirmation in the early morning that he was gone.

Mike Mahoney: At 2:44 am, I asked if he was dead? At 2:48 am, my mom said, “Yes. Murdered.” At 2:54 am, my mom told me that police told Ellen (his wife) that they had bad news. That was when they said my brother was dead.

That was it. He’s dead. I was shocked. Very shocked. I was watching and I was crying. I was grieving. I feel sad. I miss my brother. He was a very wonderful person. I miss him. Why him? Why him?

Mike said Kevin was a wonderful person who was supportive of him as a deaf person.

Mike Mahoney: He was very supportive and understanding. He supports deaf people and their frustrations and was helpful with their struggles. He was positive. He was my brother! He helped me with things. He would make calls for me before texting was available. He was a very wonderful person. I will miss him very badly. I feel like he’s just gone.

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I asked Mike what his feelings were on the shooter.

Mike Mahoney: Let God judge him. He is only 21 years old. I can’t believe that.

The shirt you see Mike wearing was actually given to him by his brother.

Mike Mahoney: This morning, I wanted to put this t-shirt on. He gave me the shirt for Christmas two or three years ago. I ended up leaving it there, it still had the tag on, I never wore the shirt because this isn’t my favorite team. So, this morning, I decided to remove the tag and put the shirt on to honor my brother. It is his favorite team.

Thank you for your time, Mike, and we are sorry about your brother and that he had to pass away due to senseless gun violence.

I want to add one more thing here — Kevin’s daughter posted on Twitter a picture of them at her wedding about a year ago.

@MahoneyEb: “I am heartbroken to announce that my Dad, my hero, Kevin Mahoney, was killed in the King Soopers shooting in my hometown of Boulder, CO. My dad represents all things Love. I'm so thankful he could walk me down the aisle last summer.”

https://twitter.com/MahoneyEb/status/1374394946556362767