Slain Colorado police officer learning to become drone pilot

Slain Colorado Police officer, father of seven was learning to become a drone pilot to keep himself off the front line and get into a saver form of work.

Slain Colorado police officer was learning to become a drone pilot

Colorado officer Eric Talley, 51, who was among the victims of Monday's shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, viewed his police work as pursuing “a higher calling.”

Talley was one of the first to respond to the gunfire on Monday and was one of the ten people who died in the latest U.S. mass shooting.

Talley, a father of seven and devoutly religious, had started to learn how to become a Part 107 certified drone operator to make his work saver after having been a police officer for about a decade.

“He was looking for a job to keep himself off of the front lines and was learning to be a drone operator. He didn't want to put his family through something like this,” Homer Talley said, according to Reuters.

The Mayor of Boulder, Sam Weaver said on Tuesday that Talley had been “a truly heroic public servant.”

“We can never thank Officer Talley or his family enough for their sacrifice, but we will not forget it,” Weaver said. “Many are alive today because of the actions of Eric Talley and other First Responders, and their bravery is a blessing to us all.”

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