


Listeners can now tune in to Senseless, a podcast hosted by Erika Mahoney, which highlights the widespread grief felt in the aftermath of the Boulder King Soopers mass shooting in which Mahoney’s dad, Kevin Mahoney, was killed.
The eight-part series is set to be released every Tuesday, other than Fourth of July, this summer and will include conversations about what it was like in the days following her father’s death, the struggles she endured while sitting through a high-profile criminal trial and how she has coped with her trauma and grief in the days in between. Guests to be featured on the podcast include singers Aly and AJ, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse.
In the first episode, which was released June 17, Erika Mahoney talks about her relationships with her dad, speaks to the last person he smiled at before he was killed, and interviews her family about what they were doing in the hours after hearing of the shooting.
Mahoney, who was six months pregnant and working in Monterey, California, at the time of the shooting, said in the episode that she was on a break while live on air as a news director when she answered the calls from her mother.
“What my mom said next shattered my world,” Erika Mahoney says in the first episode after describing how her mother told her there has been a shooting. “‘Eri,’ she said. ‘Dad went grocery shopping.’”
Then, after being driven home by her husband, she watched as a live TV broadcast showed her father laying dead in the parking lot, wearing the same jacket he always wore.
Throughout the first podcast episode, these anecdotal details are shared with sentimental memories Erika Mahoney has of her father.
She describes his laugh, love for the outdoors and unwavering support for his children in the episode, giving life to his name and homage to his personality, which only deepens the listener’s empathy for the grief she’s faced for the past four years.
“One goal of this podcast is to open eyes to the pain that mass shootings create,” Erika Mahoney said.
“Being vulnerable and raw isn’t easy but I think it’s really important that we share these stories so ultimately we can make change.”
Since being launched, the first episode has reached No. 2 on Apple’s Society and Culture category, No. 3 in the Series category and No. 17 on Podcasts.
“The feedback was beyond my wildest imagination, because pretty much immediately people were texting me and saying how much this resonated with them and how important this is,” Mahoney said. “That meant the world to me because I’ve poured my heart into this project.”
In this week’s episode, titled, “The Other Side,” Mahoney talks about both the spiritual connection she feels to her dad and, as a journalist, what it’s like to no longer be asking the questions, but answering them.
An additional episode is available to listeners each week when they sign up for Lemonada Premium. In last week’s additional episode, titled “Web of Pain,” Erika Mahoney spoke to a survivor of the shooting and University of Colorado Boulder researcher David Pyrooz about his study that found 1 in 15 American adults are on the scene of a mass shooting in their lifetime.
Those interested can listen to Senseless with Erika Mahoney, from Lemonada Media, on Apple music, Spotify and Amazon music or wherever they get their podcasts.