When a gunman walked into a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, Monday, employees immediately began doing something for which they had no training: saving lives.

Through the pandemic, grocery store workers have been hailed as heroes, sharing humanity and courage with anxious shoppers, or persevering amid abuse and anger. But the events Monday, in which 10 people were killed, put that selflessness in a new light. 

As shoppers instinctively ran toward the back of the store, employees shepherded them toward exits and hid them in an upstairs closet. “Everybody kind of had like a hand on another person, you know,” customer Ryan Borowski told Colorado Public Radio. “Somebody had their hand on my back, I had my hand on someone else’s back, and we just kept moving.”

Six years ago in France, when a Muslim terrorist attacked a Jewish market, Malian immigrant Lassana Bathily – also Muslim – hid a group of hostages, saving their lives. When Mr. Bathily was awarded French citizenship, the owner of the Jewish market said, “He represents a big message for many people, especially for us.” 

Today, the employees of a Colorado market offer a similar message in the face of hate, notes a statement from the local chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers. “This senseless act of evil also highlights and shines a light on the best of human nature.”