Less than two weeks after someone cut down a willow tree honoring two people shot and killed in Boulder five years ago, a truck arrived with a new one.

“I truly believe that whoever cut the tree down didn’t know what it stood for,” said Kelly Graham, who lives in the Prospect neighborhood in south Longmont.

Community members planted the tree about a year after Sean Griffin and Staci Froderman Griffin, owners of Boulder Stove & Flooring were shot and killed at their Boulder store by a disgruntled employee in 2010.

Graham said community members planted a willow tree and decorated a bench in Bruns park, so the Griffin’s surviving daughter, who was 12 at the time, would have a place to come to.

Someone cut the tree down on Oct. 15, and Longmont police took reports of six trees being cut down between Oct. 15 and Oct. 18.

She said that when she heard the tree had been cut down, she began soliciting donations to replace it and had about $500 in two days, calling the response “overwhelming.”

“I’m very proud of this community,” she said.

Graham said the Griffins’ daughter is now in college and studying psychology. Her goal is to help other young people who have experienced trauma.

She added that anyone wishing to donate should send money to Comfort Zone Camp, a Massachusetts bereavement camp.

Graham said community members also plan to fix up the bench that commemorates the tree, and might move it out of the park so it doesn’t fall victim to the elements.

Prospect developer Kiki Wallace said that everyone he has spoken to in the neighborhood has been “angry, upset and dumbfounded” that someone would cut down the tree.

“It’s all going to end up well,” he added. “We’ll just pretend it never happened.”

Tom Pieckenbroch, a landscape designer at The Tree Farm, was on hand Monday to see the new tree, another Willow, planted at the park. He also brought more donations that had been dropped off at the business.

“It was heartbreaking to see the cover of the paper with that tree cut down,” Pieckenbroch said. “It’s just a senseless act.”

He said that The Tree Farm donated the first tree and gave a discount on the current tree and donated materials and labor. He added that one of the crew members planting the tree on Monday had also planted the first one.

“It was such a tragic event,” he said. “The awesome thing is it has been such a quick response.”

John Bear: 303-684-5212, bearj@timescall.com or twitter.com/johnbearwithme