A shooting at a supermarket in Colorado on Monday killed 10 people, including a police officer who was the first to respond to the scene, authorities said.
Police arrested a suspect but did not reveal his name or details of the shooting at an evening news conference where Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold fought back tears.
Investigators had just begun sifting through evidence and hearing witnesses and had no details of a motive for the shooting at the King Soopers store in Boulder, about 25 miles northwest of Denver and home to the University of Colorado. said district attorney Michael Dougherty of Boulder County.
“This is a tragedy and a nightmare for Boulder County,” Dougherty said. ‘These were people who went about their day and did their shopping. I promise the victims and the people of the state of Colorado that we will ensure justice. ”
The attack was the seventh mass murder this year in the US, following the March 16 shooting that killed eight people at three massage companies in Atlanta, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
It follows a break in mass murders during the 2020 pandemic, which had the smallest number of such attacks in more than a decade, according to the database, which tracks mass murders defined as four or more deaths, not counting the shooter.
The murdered officer was identified as Eric Talley, 51, who had been with the Boulder Police Department since 2010, Herold said.
“He was probably one of the leading Boulder Police officers, and his life was too short,” Dougherty said of Talley.
The identities of the other nine victims were not disclosed on Monday evening as police continued to notify their relatives.
Matthew Kirsch, the acting US attorney for Colorado, promised that “the full weight of federal law enforcement” will support the investigation. He said investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the crime scene, along with FBI agents.
Officers had escorted a shirtless man with blood down his leg in handcuffs out of the store, but authorities would not say if he was the suspect. They did say the suspect was receiving medical attention.
Dean Schiller told The Associated Press that he had just left the supermarket when he heard gunshots and saw three people lying face down, two in the parking lot and one near the doorway. He said he “couldn’t tell if they were breathing.”
Video posted on YouTube showed one person on the floor in the store and two more outside on the floor. What sounds like two gunshots can also be heard at the beginning of the video.
Law enforcement vehicles and officers gathered outside the store, including SWAT teams, and at least three helicopters landed on the roof. Some of the windows in the front of the store were broken.
At one point the authorities said through a loudspeaker that the building was surrounded and that “you must surrender”.
Sarah Moonshadow told the Denver Post that two shots rang out just after she and her son, Nicolas Edwards, finished buying strawberries. She said she told her son to go down and then “we just ran.”
Once they got out, she said they saw a body in the parking lot. Edwards said police drove into the property and stopped next to the body.
“I knew there was nothing we could do for the man,” he said. “We had to go.”
James Bentz told the Post he was in the meat department when he heard what he thought was a failure, then a series of bangs.
“I was up front in a stampede at the time,” he said.
Bentz said he jumped off a loading dock to escape and that younger people were helping older people.
One person was taken from the shooting scene to Foothills Hospital in Boulder, said Rich Sheehan, spokesman for Boulder Community Health, which operates the hospital.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis tweeted a statement that his “heart breaks as we watch this unspeakable event unfold in our Boulder community.”
Police had told people to take shelter amid a report of an “armed, dangerous person” about 3 miles from the supermarket, but later said at the press conference that it had nothing to do with the shooting.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting.
In a statement, the King Soopers chain offered “thoughts, prayers and support to our employees, customers and the emergency responders who responded so bravely to this tragic situation. We will continue to work with local law enforcement officials and our store will remain closed during the police investigation.”
Kevin Daly, owner of Under the Sun Eatery and Pizzeria Restaurant a block or so from the grocery store, said he was in his store when he saw police cars coming and customers rushing out of the grocery store. He said he had taken in several people to keep them warm, and others got on a Boulder Police bus and were taken away.