BOULDER, Colo. — How do we imagine a future after the unimaginable happens? How do we speak of meaning after an unspeakable tragedy? People in Boulder and beyond are facing those questions after Monday's mass killing. 

Questions like these haunted two women among those who gathered outside Boulder's police headquarters, where the vehicle of fallen Officer Eric Talley — among the 10 people who died at the hands of a lone gunman —has become a shrine. 

Merryl Rothaus, who has lived in Boulder for almost 25 years, said she's in shock because "something like this happened in my town."

"We really need to help each other out right now," she said. "We need to lean in on each other. We need to grieve together as a community. We need to realize that grief is an expression of love."

And then, Rothaus said, "I think we need to really get to work as a community, as a country, to stop this kind of thing from happening." 

That, she said, means changes to gun laws, including background checks, and more mental health services