In a Colorado supermarket shooting, ten people were killed.

 

Authorities said ten people were killed in a shooting at a Colorado supermarket on Monday, including a police officer who was the first on the scene.

At an evening news conference where Boulder police Chief Maris Herold fought back tears, police arrested a gunman but didn’t share his name or any information about the shooting.

According to Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, investigators had just recently begun searching through evidence and witness interviews and had no information about a motive for the shooting at the King Soopers store in Boulder, which is about 25 miles northwest of Denver and home to the University of Colorado.

“For Boulder County, this is a disaster and a nightmare,” said Dougherty. “These were people going about their daily lives and doing their shopping,” says the narrator. We will secure justice for the victims and the citizens of Colorado.”

According to a database collected by The Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University, the attack was the seventh mass killing in the United States this year, following an eight-person shooting on March 16 at three Atlanta-area massage parlors.

According to the database, which monitors mass killings identified as four or more dead, not including the gunman, there was a lull in mass killings during the pandemic in 2020, which had the fewest number of such attacks in more than a decade.

Eric Talley, 51, a member of the Boulder Police Department since 2010, was shot and killed, according to Herold. She said he went to the store after getting a call about shots being fired and someone with a rifle.

Talley was described by Dougherty as “one of the outstanding officers of the Boulder Police Department whose life was cut far too short.”

The identities of the other nine victims were not released Monday night because their family members were still being notified by police.

The investigation will be supported by “the full power of federal law enforcement,” according to Matthew Kirsch, the acting U.S. attorney for Colorado. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, as well as FBI officers, were at the crime scene, he said.

Officers escorted a shirtless man in handcuffs out of the shop, but police refused to reveal whether he was the perpetrator. They did say that the suspect was being treated for his injuries and that he was the only one who survived.

Officials have not said whether the perpetrator is the same person who was taken to Foothills Hospital in Boulder after the shooting. According to Rich Sheehan, a spokesperson for Boulder Community Health, which runs the hospital, no further details on the patient will be released.

Dean Schiller told The Associated Press that he had just left the supermarket when he heard gunshots and saw three people, two in the parking lot and one by the backdoor, lying face down. He said that he couldn’t tell if they were breathing because he “couldn’t tell if they were breathing.”

One person was seen on the floor inside the store and two others were seen outside on the ground, according to a video posted on YouTube. At the beginning of the video, what sounds like two gunshots can be heard.

At least three helicopters landed on the store’s roof, and law enforcement cars and police, including SWAT teams, gathered outside. The store’s front windows were smashed in a few places.

Authorities announced over the loudspeaker that the building had been surrounded and that “you must surrender.”

Two shots rang out just after Sarah Moonshadow and her son, Nicolas Edwards, finished shopping for strawberries, according to the Denver Post. “We just ran,” she said after telling her son to get down.

She said they noticed a body in the parking lot once they got outside. According to Edwards, cops sped into the parking lot and pulled up alongside the body.

“I knew there was nothing we could do for him,” he admitted. “It was necessary for us to depart.”

According to the Washington Post, James Bentz was in the meat section when he heard a misfire followed by a series of pops.

He described himself as being at the front of a stampede.

Bentz reported that he jumped off a loading dock in the back to flee, and that younger people were assisting the elderly.

“As we watch this unspeakable incident unfold in our Boulder community,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis tweeted.

Police issued a shelter-in-place order after receiving a report of a “armed, dangerous individual” about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the grocery store, but later clarified that the report was unrelated to the shooting at a news conference.

President Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting, according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

“Thoughts, prayers, and support to our associates, customers, and the first responders who responded so bravely to this tragic situation,” the King Soopers chain said in a statement. During the police investigation, we will continue to work with local law enforcement and our store will be closed.”

Kevin Daly, the owner of Under the Sun Eatery and Pizzeria Restaurant, a block or so from the supermarket, said he was in his restaurant when he saw police cars and shoppers fleeing the store. He said he took in several people to keep them warm, while others were taken away by Boulder police on a bus provided by the department.